Would Bad Weather and Other Unforeseen Circumstances Destroy Your Business Plans? Successful People Exploit Bad Luck!

"Any fool can have bad luck; the art consists in knowing how 
to exploit it" - Frank Wedekind

Many business people are guilty of blaming lack of success or just plain out and out business failures on unforeseen circumstances and things, "Out of their control." 

How often have you had a great plan or a great team and the idea or project that you were working on just didn't seem to turn out as you planned it? Of course, there's always an excuse for the luke-warm results: Something happened that you hadn't planned on or things changed on the ground.


Often these things that some people take as bad luck and as reasons for failure, others take as opportunities and vehicles for success. The winners take changes in a situation to show their ability to adapt and overcome. That is what we all need to work on everyday.


Instead of me citing a specific business example, let me use a personal family one to illustrate. The example I want to use has nothing to do with business, but think of it as a sort of parable that can relate to business. Yesterday, I took my family to Disneyland.


We had the plan all laid out months ago. We like to plan ahead. Planning ahead is smart as you can get everything at massive discounts. Sometimes up to 60% off on hotels and entry.


When we woke up yesterday morning, it was pouring rain. We checked the weather report and it showed a 70% chance of rain all day until the afternoon of the next day. It was raining hard. I considered for a moment blowing the entire trip off.


Nevertheless, we loaded up the car and headed out to Disneyland. Even if we cancelled the hotel, we'd still have to pay. Also, since I am such a famous cheap-skate, my family considers merely staying in a hotel as fun.


When we arrived at Disneyland an hour and one half later, it was raining even harder than when we left home. There were very few people at Disneyland. I suppose the heavy rains scared most people away. 


We decided that since we were at Disneyland anyway we'd go in, ride a few rides, and then see how it goes. I thought it impossible, but mentioned that it might clear up. Heck, we were there at 8 am. The hotel check-in wasn't until 3 pm. What were we going to do? At the worst, we could get in a few rides and, if we got soaking wet, we could warm up and hibernate in one of the huge restaurants inside of Tomorrowland. Of course, my son eagerly agreed.


Funny that, when you stop to consider; children are far more open to opportunities and positive thinking than many adults and businessmen would be. 


Well, we went in and it began to rain harder and harder as the time went by. It was nearly freezing yesterday at 2 degrees Celsius (about 35.2 Fahrenheit). By 10 am our feet were soaking wet and our toes freezing walking around with wet feet and socks and shoes in that frigid temperature is not good at all. I began to entertain thoughts of leaving and going somewhere where we could dry our feet off. 


But, once again, we thought of the best way to save the situation. My wife went to look for children's rubber boots and socks. FYI: Folks, they only sell boots for children up to about 4 or 5 years old. There's only two shops in all of Tokyo Disneyland that sell boots and socks... Anyway, my wife bought the dry socks for all of us. But what to do about the wet shoes? If you put on the dry socks and put your feet in the wet shoes, your feet will just get wet again.


Here's where so advice I got from my marine dad and time in the boy scouts came in handy: We got a bunch of Disneyland vinyl bags. We dried our feet off well and put on the dry socks. Then we put the vinyl bags over the socks and put the shoes back on tightly. Wallah! Like magic! Dry and warm feet (plus I didn't have to pay outrageous prices for Disney boots!) 


Of course, most people wouldn't be seen dead walking around with plastic bags over their feet in public. I think we probably looked like homeless folks walking around with those plastic bags over our feet. But, hey, these were special circumstances and special circumstances call for special measures! 


The end result? We were able to stay at Disneyland all day and did not have anymore trouble with cold, wet feet again... The extra bonus? Because we didn't give up at the very start and blow off the entire trip and went to Disneyland as planned, we got to go on everything and their were no crowds.


Bigger bonus? At about three o'clock the skies cleared up and it actually became sunny. We were walking around Disneyland and it was sunny and there was basically no waiting over 15 minutes at any rides! By seven o'clock in the evening the wait was zero for everything! We walked into the entrance of attractions and straight onto the ride. We even had our own boat on It's a Small World!!!!

Feeding ducks. You can see the massive Disney crowds in the background.

Because of this, I think we set a record for rides at Disneyland in one day. Well, for my family we did. And trust folks, I am from Southern California so I had been to Disneyland more times by the time I was 10-years-old than most people go their entire lives...


Yesterday, we took what seemed to be a bad (and cold and wet) situation and turned it into a fantastic day with great memories. Today, 24 hours after the rain? No one thinks about how wet we were at the start. Everyone thinks about how great a time that was and how amazing it was that we were able to see so many attractions in one day. Everyone only thinks about how amazing everything turned out!


Let me get off the point for a second: Moms and dads who have taken their kids to Disneyland!... Let me brag about this. That place was empty! Here is a chronological order of the events, rides, restaurants and attractions we enjoyed:


Monsters Inc.
Star Tours (the Star Wars ride)
Captian EO (Michael Jackson 3D show)
Tomorrowland Terrace (restaurant)
Buzz Lightyear's Astro-Blasters
Haunted Mansion
Mickey's Phiharmagic (New 3D show - highly recommended!)
Country Bear Jamboree
Mickey Jubilee parade down Main Street
Pirates of the Caribbean
Blue Bayou restaurant
Jungle Cruise
Buzz Lightyear's Astro-Blasters (2nd time)
Grand Circuit Raceway
Star Tours (2nd time)
Man's Greatest Dream (Song and Dance show at Showbase theater)
Monsters Inc. (2nd time)
Pan-Galactic Pizza Port
Grand Circuit Raceway (2nd time)
Pinocchio's Adventures
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (kinda scary for little kids actually!)
Electrical Parade
Peter Pan Adventure
Mickey's Phiharmagic (2nd time)
It's a Small World
Star Jets


That's 27 attractions, events and rides we saw in one day! My son is still a bit afraid of Space Mountain, so we didn't go on that. By 5 pm we were wondering, "Gee. We've been on everything. What are we going to do?" So we decided to ride everything twice and go on really little kids rides. (Man! Are my legs tired!)

Us on front of Cinderella Castle. There wasn't anybody around. (Notice my wife's plastic bags on her feet - my son and I were able to hide them under our jeans!)

The lesson here is simple: When unforeseen circumstances arise, don't give up and don't throw in the towel so easy. This is a good lesson for everyone (me too) who quickly contemplates cutting and running when things look difficult. Think. Use your minds creatively. There is a solution. 


And, remember, your competitors are probably dealing with the same sorts of challenges. If they are giving up then that gives you a golden opportunity.


Golden opportunities are rare these days. When they come, take them. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade...


Even if you do have to be seen in public with plastic bags on your feet.

Where the Action is... Are You Stuck With Out of Date Thinking?

It used to be that, long ago, you needed to be near the samurai warlord in order to wield any power; you had to be "where the action is." It used to be that way in the west too; if you weren't near the king or in the king's court, you couldn't influence any decisions and you had little power to influence society.

It has been this way for thousands of years; you either had to be near or in a seat in government or the church or you had zero influence in decisions that moved society.


It started changing in 1450 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. As technology has gotten better and better, the ability to influence society and change people's lives has gotten easier and easier - farther and farther - away from the traditional seats and centers of power.


This is probably how the saying, "the pen is mightier than the sword" came into existence.


Still, all through the Industrial Revolution and even up until the last twenty years, being involved and being able to change an archaic system such as our political one has still required being in the center - but changing and influencing society as a whole, and being able to change how the average man and woman thinks and feels, has changed completely with the advent of the Internet.

Maybe Rasputin wasn't a really bad guy

I would submit to you that, today, you can change and influence society much more when you are not in the center. Just look at things like Anonymous taking down the Greek government sites, Wikileaks, the Twitter and the Occupy Wall Street Movement and the overthrow of governments in the Middle East for evidence of that.


The Internet has shown us the you no longer need to be in the center of action. You no longer need to be in the big cities in order to have a big influence and change things... You no longer need to be sitting at a desk or physically in that meeting... You can be far away and have a great impact. The Internet has become the great equalizer. The Internet allows everyone and anyone to be able to have some say, some control in what is happening. That's why it scares the hell out of the old center of power and that's why they are doing whatever they can to control it.


Many people think that they must be in the center in order to influence people, thinking and actions. In our modern day Internet, this sort of thinking is proving old fashioned and out of date.


Are you stuck with out of date thinking? Or can you free yourself?


Thanks to Paco Pil and Seth Godin for the inspiration for this post!

Japan is a Peaceful Country - Crime of the Week? Sharks in Parks! Shark Attack!

Japan is a very peaceful country. Ask the Japanese, ask anyone who has ever been here. The Japanese will tell you, "日本は平和な国" ("Nihon wa heiwa na kuni" - Japan is a peaceful country). It is. Japan is an extremely peaceful country. In the west you constantly have news about grotesque crimes, murders, bombings and wars, in Japan? News about ducks crossing a road in downtown Tokyo.

Left: My image of typical USA news. 

Right: Naked anime girl seems typical Japanese news 

The crimes that hit the news sources in Japan are completely out of this world when compared to the crimes that hit the news compared to, say, the United States. In the USA, the news is about riots, police brutality, government spying on citizens, Americans losing their freedoms, white collar crimes and idiocy about what kind of fashions movie stars are wearing. 

Ducks crossing busy streets in the world's most crowded city, 

Tokyo, was big news for several years in Japan.

Photo from NTV - Channel 4 Nihon TV (Japan TV) Network 

In the USA, there are roughly 17,000 murders per year. Japan, with roughly half the population of the USA has about 1,000 murders a year... Many of those murders are murder suicides so it is not exactly an apples to apple comparison. If there is a murder in the USA, it doesn't even hit the news unless the victim is a famous person or the relative of a famous person. In Japan, a murder usually becomes big news all over the TV and news networks for weeks after the incident.

The comparison of US news and Japan's news shows two countries that are as different as night and day. Here's things I skimmed from Yahoo news just now.


In the USA: 


*Police Beat Protestors
*Hillary Clinton Commits Fashion Faux Pas at G20 Meeting
*Teen Rapes 5-year-old at Ohio McDonald's
*More Catholic Priests Accused of Molestation
*Shooter Says Angel That Ordered Him to Kill Looked Like Olivia Newton-John


Okay. Yeah, that cops beating people up story has been going on for a long time. It's winter now, just wait until it warms up again and then we'll start seeing more of this. Hillary Clinton's fashion? Ugh. The only thing worse than kissing Hillary Clinton would be to kiss Imelda Marcos. Who cares what her fashion is? Why are Americans so concerned with what people are wearing? Teen rapes 5-year-old? At a McDonald's? WTF!? Priests rape kids? Same old, same old... Murder says angel that told him to do it looks like Olivia Newton John? Well aren't all angels beautiful like Farrah Fawcet or Olivia Neutron Bomb?

Now let's look at the news in Japan:


*Fukushima Nuclear Plant Toured by Journalists
*Three People Found Dead of Starvation in Saitama
*Search for Disaster Victims on Fukushima Coast
*Emperor Leaves Hospital After Surgery
*Dead 1.5 Meter Long Shark Left in Park Has Cops Fishing for Motive

Right. Dead 1.5 meter (about 4.5 foot long) shark left in public park?... Wait!.... What?!


Japan Times has the story: 

A dead shark found in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park has sparked an investigation into who brought it there, an officer at Yoyogi Police Station said Monday.

A park security guard called the police at 7 a.m. Sunday after finding the shark, which was covered by a blue tarp and measured about 1½ meters long, the police said.

The shark had been gutted and was found near a parking lot for bicycles near one of the entrances leading to JR Shibuya Station.

"The shark was not rotten, so I guess someone left the shark not so long ago," Hiroshi Okano, a deputy chief at Yoyogi Police Station, told The Japan Times by telephone. He said the police station is keeping its carcass at a storage facility there.

Okano wouldn't disclose any other details because the matter is still under investigation as an illegal dumping case.

On Twitter, dozens of posts from Feb. 14 to early on Feb. 15 said a shark was being exhibited in front of a sushi restaurant in Shibuya. The tweets later said someone had taken it away.

Only in Japan! And, actually, this is a pretty big story here in Japan. So what the deal is was is it seems that this shark was on display in front of a sushi shop. The sushi shops claims that some dumb gaijin (foreigner) told the sushi shop that we was an artist and wanted the shark to use to create some artwork. So, the sushi shops gave it to him. They say he must have dumped the shark in the park...

Uh, huh... Riiiiiiiight. Now, pun intended, but that story sounds really fishy! I don't believe that for a minute and it seems that the police don't either. It also strikes me as odd that the supposed perpetrator of this heinous crime is, of course, the unknown and shady foreigner...

Now, we all know that all foreigners in Japan are criminals, crack-addicts, sun-glass wearing untrustworthy, despicable characters (present company excluded)... But I don't know too many who have a hankering to be walking around carrying a 1.5 meter long shark under their arm... Also, considering that all artists (and musicians) are dirt poor, how is this artist going to get this shark home? On the train? And to think that a sushi shop is going to pay several hundred dollars for a fish (yeah, yeah, I know a shark isn't a fish) then just give it away to some guy walking up the street is a bit too much to believe.

Let me just say, "I don't think so."

I seems that the police don't believe this story either and are "grilling" (pun intended) the people from the sushi shop. It seems obvious to me that they had this huge shark that they didn't know what to do with and some Einstein there decided to dump it in the park and blame it on the scummy foreigners...

Heck, that's what any thinking person would do! 

Well, that's the sort of thing that hits the news in Japan.

Ok. Maybe I would call the police... Or at least the the Coast Guard or the navy!

The other thing about this that really surprises me is that the park attendant, upon finding the shark, would actually bother to call the police? Really? If it were me, I'd just get a big trash bag and throw it out on trash day. The other thing is that the police would actually bother with this. Do the police in Japan actually have so much free time that they'd launch and investigation as to where this shark came from?

Don't those police clowns have any real criminals to catch? No they don't... They only have traffic tickets to give out and sushi to eat, in between raiding prostitution parlors and arresting S&M dominatrix queens.

Nihon wa heiwa na kuni. Japan is a peaceful country. (With the police wasting our tax money).


Thanks to Marta Karpinska

Windows and Mac Users! Google Has Been Illegally Tracking Your Every Move!

Talk about dedicated servers and disappointed clients...

Google made a HUGE mistake recently...

Last Friday, Wall Street Journal broke the story that Google somehow figured out a way to crack Safari's security settings and has been tracking users (that’s people like you and me) by stealth for more than 6 months. This means they have been following us and spying on what web pages we visit and what products we buy - as well as possibly seeing other private information such as credit cards numbers, etc...

Now, today, Microsoft has accused Google of the same thing with Explorer. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/20/google-tricks-internet-explorer-foils-privacy-settings-microsoft-says/?test=latestnews

To counteract this for Explorer and Windows users, Microsoft has made a tracking protection list. Check it out: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/browser/p3p/

Below you can see a screen capture of Pageviews by Operating Systems of people who visit this blog. This security breech shows that Google has been spying on approximately 87% of all Internet users!

The browser wars and security and privacy wars are heating up... If users start to implement the Microsoft tracking protection list, Google Adsense is dead.

I hope it is dead. Google already pries into our private information too much. This shouldn't be allowed or tolerated by users...

Really, Google just changed their privacy policy and now they've broken it - already?! 

(PS: I do not allow Google Adsense on the blog) 




Big thanks to the Market Ticker

Handling Hate Mail — For Dummies

Sorry about that title, it should read: "Handling Hate Mail — From Dummies." Oh me. Will the LRC editing staff ever get these things right? Oh well, since I already have your attention…

Unless you are writing about flowers, children, balloons, Teddy bears, and other nice stuff, you'll probably get hate mail. In fact, I'll bet even the writer's of such fare get their share of hate mail too (I would imagine it would come from jealous people). On a site like Lew Rockwell, most people don't write about pretty things; so I guess we get hate mail in droves. I know I do.

I like to think that my hate mail comes because good folks don't read and understand what I have written — I'm allowed to dream, aren't I? What I actually fear and suspect is that I could be even more of a hack writer than I think I am and as such, am unable to convey my message clearly. Oh well, you learn something new everyday.

Don't do what I do, do what I say!

This article is to help you, my fellow writers — hackers, pro's, what-have-you — to gently handle those hate letters so that you don't get an ulcer, start drinking heavily, or start feeling sorry for yourself (this happens to me often). Here are a handy-dandy set of rules that I promise will help you in making the answering of your hate mail an enjoyable experience.

Rule 1: Keep in mind that love and hate are two sides of a fiat coin. Anyone who writes to you actually loves you. Some people are better at showing their love than others. This is an important rule to keep in mind before tackling that Yahoo mail account that we all use for our articles (instead of our real e-mail address).

Rule 2: Never, but never, open your e-mail account after you've been drinking. I imagine some of the good folks who have written to me will scoff at this. For that I must apologize — blame it on the booze. In fact, if you have been drinking, I think it's best to stay away from your computer all together (look who's talking!). Nevertheless, from now on, do as I say, not as I do.

Rule 3: Never look at your e-mail after arguing with the little woman. Let's face it. She's right and you are wrong — you should be ashamed of yourself, you useless worm. That's no time to start an argument with other people. Have a drink and go to bed – remember to kiss the battleaxe on the forehead before retiring and to say "Good night." It's never a good idea to go to bed angry.

Rule 4: Humor, humor, humor. Don't look at mail as a personal attack. If you look closely I think you'll find most probably several remarks from the reader that are good for at least a few howls of laughter. Don't forget, you are the writer. That puts you in the driver's throne and that you are the king of all that is good and fair. The reader is a fan (see Rule 1 above).

Rule 5: Keep in mind that the readers are generally not writers and they are trying their best to convey their message. Often, they will be angry at you for what you have written and their letters will start off politely and then descend into flames like a Zero fighter at the Battle of Leyte. This is where the gist of their message comes out: That you are a hack writer (well, of course, we all know that). So what's to argue?

Rule 6: This is the best one and I've saved it for last. I have found a great way to answer extremely foul-mouthed e-mails that works about 70% of the time. It really does. Whenever you get a mail - and they are usually several pages long - but start out with a kind greeting along the lines of:

"You (expletive deleted) (expletive deleted) (expletive deleted) moran…." (They usually misspell "moron".)

I found that the best way to reply is to ignore reading the rest of their letter (I mean, if I want to be called names, I'll go home and argue with my teenage daughters or my wife) and then I will respond to the dear reader by writing:

"Dear Such-and such,

Don't you think that your mother deserves better than to have people think that she didn't raise you right because you use profanity and call strangers names? Most people know that calling strangers names is a definite sign of poor manners and upbringing. I think your mom would be ashamed to see what you wrote, and I think such a fine woman as her deserves better than that. Don't you?"

No kidding. I've used this at least two dozen times and, until now, 7 or 8 people have apologized to me. Really! Try it sometime.

If you keep in mind these simple rules, then I'm sure answering Hate Mail will come as a much more pleasant experience than it has ever been before. Let's face it, when someone calls you names, what you really want to do to let them have it with both barrels. But what good are you doing if you are adding just one more small crumb to this mountain of a hateful world we live in? Keep in mind, it is much more fun and rewarding to know that you have pissed them off even more by being kind to them; and in this way, at least one of you can go to bed chuckling. I know I do.

-For Robert Klassen

This article originally appeared on Lew Rockwell on Dec. 15, 2005

It Takes a Long Time to Build Trust - It Takes One Action to Destroy That Trust

"I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself" - Robert E. Lee


"People ask me why it's so hard to trust people. I ask them why it's so hard to keep a promise." - Unknown


"It takes a long time to build trust. It takes one action to destroy that trust."


Are you helping yourself and your business by being a dependable, trustworthy person? Or are you making the consistent mistake of changing your mind and, more importantly, what you say, and what you tell people, for the goal of obtaining short-term profits? Or, as the old saying goes, are you tripping over the quarter to pick up the penny?

Are you building the image of a person that the people around you can trust to do what they say they will do, when they say they will do it, on time, every time? Are you working everyday to build that trust amongst your coworkers, clients, business partners and customers so that they know, that you are a 100% trustworthy person who they can depend on and, in the case of your coworkers and partners will work for and follow through thick and thin?


If you are not doing that, you are making a big mistake and you are damaging your business chances of success on the long term.


I work with a guy whom I trusted and worked hard with for ten years. Oh sure, sometimes we get into disagreements on how our business should be run, but, ultimately we are heading for the same destination so sometimes there will be differences on how to get to the goal. That's okay. As long as we are going to the same place, then it's okay to argue on how to get there; maybe he wants to take the train and I want to take the bus.


Recently though, we have been getting into disagreements because he keeps making promises to people and breaking them. I wince when this happens. In the life of a business, it's okay for a company to test the waters and see how things and new business plans float. Sometimes, perhaps even often, it's okay to stop in mid-stream and cancel projects or even completely change the direction of the company. But I don't think it is okay to make promises to people that you are going to "do this" or "do that" on Monday then, on Tuesday, tell them that you won't do what you promised.


Like I said, businesses change. It's okay to change and change your mind. Breaking promises is something that happens sometimes, but breaking promises to different people once a week or everyday is completely out of line and way over-board.


I had to have a polite word with him about it yesterday. It was a good talk.


One day, about one month ago, the boss of another famous company in Japan called me up. His business had dropped 30% over this last 12 months. He told me that he needed to do something and he wanted me to come up with a new promotion plan for his new service which was starting up in 2.5 months. He wanted me to do it because he said he knows my reputation and he needed a "quick to react" plan. That's what I excel at. Within a week of his asking, I had spoken to several of my trusted people in my buzz marketing network and arranged a comprehensive plan that ran for 6 months starting within 3 weeks! I presented it to him and he said he loved it and wanted to do it for certain.


He also told me that he needed to clear it with his staff but it shouldn't be a problem. That was a Friday. He promised me that he'd call me back that next Monday. He didn't call back. The next day, Tuesday, I sent him an email since time was critical. There was no reply. I also sent an email on Wednesday and Friday, still, no answer. The next week, I called him up and spoke with him on the phone and he said the staff were all right and he wanted to talk with the local government organization for the promotion. I stressed, once again, that we were losing valuable time. He said he understood and he promised me he'd call me back that evening. 


He didn't call.


The same thing the following week. Finally, three weeks after the first meeting, I spoke with him on the phone on a Monday. He profusely apologized for not getting back to me and then he said, "I am keen to go on these plans. I'll definitely get back to you Wednesday, Thursday at the latest."


He didn't call me back again! That's 3 times he promised to call me back and didn't. 


Now, I know everyone is busy, but too busy to pick up the phone and make a 20 second phone call? I don't believe that. 


Now some people will say, "Maybe he just can't say 'No!'" but this is a foreigner we're talking about. Not a Japanese. So saying, "No!" shouldn't be a problem. 


The plan I came up with was contingent on a few other parties getting involved. It was an organic buzz marketing solution. This means that there are two or three other companies or entities that tie up for the promotions and create a synergy to promote an entire concept to a much wider audience than if the promotion was ran by just one company.


In some of the pieces of the promotion, I talked to two of the most famous companies in Japan to become partners with this initial company that contacted me ran by this foreigner. These other two companies are huge organizations and we have done several organic, buzz marketing promotions together over these last 4 years. They completely trust me and I trust them.


They know that I am going to do what I say I will do. I know they will reciprocate; they will always do what they say they are going to do. That's how you build trust. That's why we enjoy working together.


This foreign boss who can't even call people back when he says that he's going to call? I didn't tell him to call on "Wednesday, or Thursday night at the latest" he volunteered that by himself.


Is this person trustworthy? Do I want to allow this sort of person into my trusted network of folks who work in organic and buzz marketing? Do I feel confident that this person won't piss off my other partners? Would you, dear reader, trust this person and introduce him to your trusted partners? 


No way. I don't think so.


I gave this guy a chance and tried to trust him, but now I can't. I don't want to work with him. I can't. 


I now understand why his business is down 30% over the last year. No surprise there. Does it surprise you? 


I also know that he is going to call me and, at the last minute, ask me to arrange the promotions, but I am going to have to decline. I can't depend on this guy not to make me look bad to people whom I've worked with and built a reputation of trust. I've mentioned before that sometimes the jobs you reject are just as important as the jobs you keep. Heck, if we're not going to do great work, then I don't want to do it. 

Incredibly, the "Untrustworthy meter" does go to minus eleven

Like I said, 


"It takes a long time to build trust. It takes one action to destroy that trust."


This guy has committed three of those "one actions." I can't trust him. I mean, would you?


Don't be like this guy. Build trust.


It's hard to measure the value of trust in a relationship but we know the cost of losing it.

Positive Thinking: The Story of A Guy Who Defeated 4th Stage Cancer - Two Sides of the Positive/Negative Thinking Coin

Work is going terrible? Things look bad? 

You think you have it bad now? Seriously? 


Let me tell you about my friend Paul (not his real name) and how his life and death are a good lesson for us all.


Paul was a very popular and well known guy. You might say he was famous. At least in the music business in Japan, everyone knew him. Everyone in the world who knows a very famous late 80s ~ early 90s Japanese all-girl punk band  knows his work. Paul lived a fun and full fast life; fast foods, late nights, drinking and other recreational activities. Besides that, Paul was a heavy cigarette smoker for years. 


One day, out of the blue, Paul had a sore throat. The sore throat didn't go away after a few weeks so Paul went to the doctor again. There, he was diagnosed with forth stage cancer of the throat. 


The forth stage of cancer is, as you may know, the worst and final stages of the disease. Forth stage usually means that the cancer has penetrated the lymph system of the human body. The chances of survival are less than 5%... Suddenly, with all these things going on you'd think that Paul would get very depressed.


Well, he did. Like most people, Paul got very depressed. 


Soon, his condition got worse. It got a lot worse. Of course it did. It had to with an attitude like that.


Then, one day, while he was at work, we met and had a nice long talk. This was after I helped my own daughter defeat forth stage cancer. Paul believed that I could tell him why some people defeat cancer and why some people don't. 


Paul was a difficult discussion. Paul was a like a "sponge." Unconsciously, he was sucking the life and energy out of everyone he came into contact with. I could feel it. He was in a near panic that he felt he was going to die soon. Paul was grasping, searching for me, for anyone, to tell him some sort of knowledge, some sort of epiphany, some sort of magic that would make it all go away. He wanted some sort of "key" to wisdom that would answer his questions and make him healthy again. 


I told him that the knowledge I have he already knows too. I told him that he already knew what had to be done, he just hadn't realized that it was there, right in front of him, the entire time.


Paul told me that whenever he went to the doctor's office (of course it was the doctor for cancer so all the patient's there were cancer patients) he would enter the waiting room. In the waiting room everyone would be looking down. Whenever a new patient entered the room, they look up look nervously at the faces of the other patients. Everyone, he said, would be reading each other's faces and body language to try to determine who was the next one to die and who would survive. 


They were all sponges taking the life energy out of each other. It was like death row at a prison.


I asked Paul to stop this behavior immediately. I asked him to stop being a sponge. I asked him to stop absorbing the light from other people and, instead, start projecting the light. I told him that, instead of entering the doctors waiting room, nervously, like the others, enter bringing hope for everyone else. Smile and be positive. Show the others that you (Paul) are going to be one that survives. Show them the way that they can survive and, not only survive, how to thrive. 


I hate to sound corny, but John Lennon had it right; "And in the end, the love you get is equal to the love you give."


I told him to stop taking energy from others and, instead, to start giving out positive energy.


Paul also told me that he knew that if he could just convince the doctors and the nurses that he was going to recover that he would recover. I told him that he was wrong. I told him that he didn't need to convince the doctors and the nurses; he only needed to convince himself. 

I believe that ancient books, like the bible, are filled with wonderful stories that are not necessary to be taken literally, but to be understood figuratively. In the bible, when Jesus walked on water, we know that it is literally impossible to walk on water. But we know that people can do the "impossible." I think Jesus walking on water means that he accomplished what people thought was impossible... Perhaps like the Wright Brothers making a flying machine. In the bible, Jesus said, "All you need to do is to have faith."


I told Paul that it wasn't necessary for the doctors and nurses and his wife and children to believe that he was going to be cured. It was only necessary that he believed that he was going to be cured.


I told him to take the 5 tips towards winning that I mentioned yesterday. I told him that he needed to do that because he needed to train his mind to be positive for the rest of his life. He promised me he would. He did. He did it religiously, he told me. I also told him that,


"When you recover, you must remember to wake up everyday and continue with these steps to prevent the cancer from returning." This is obvious as a cancer is a physiological disorder and a positive mental attitude is necessary to stop it or keep it at bay.


Paul took my advice to heart. He started becoming positive again. He started going to the doctors office and, when the door opened and he entered, he was light a bright shining star bringing happiness and positivity to the other patients. He greeted everyone with a smile. He started creating in his heart the image and the belief that he was positive and that he was a good force and that he was actually, through his positivity and his actions, healing himself and helping others to heal.


Soon, Paul's cancer shrank and fell back into remission. He was ecstatic. His doctor was extremely pleased. 
   
The next time I met him he was a changed man. I couldn't believe how much he thanked me. But he needn't thank me. I told him nothing that he didn't already know: That faith and positive thinking and beliefs can move mountains.


But, alas, this story doesn't have a happy ending. But it does have an important lesson for everyone: Several months later, upon being given a clean bill of health, and being told that the cancer was in complete remission by the doctors, Paul returned to work and his normal lifestyle, Paul began to live as he did before...  


One day, after work, when riding his motorcycle home, he was hit at an intersection by a car and the accident severely broke his hipbone in several places. Paul had to return to the hospital where he languished. He was mentally shattered by this accident. 


I believe that Paul was so disappointed by this accident and the fact that he had to return to the hospital bed for a few months that he fell into deep depression. 


I spoke to Paul again, briefly on the phone, and he was a defeated man. He was crushed to be back into the hospital. Soon after, I'm sure to nobody's surprise, the cancer returned. Paul would die from complications from the cancer and the treatment soon after.


Like I said, there seems to be an important lesson here. When Paul became positive, he healed himself. When he became depressed, he got sick. Could the quickness of this change and how the illness returned show anything but the importance of a positive mental attitude?


A positive mental attitude is not something that you can just turn on and off like a light switch. It must be grown and it must be cultivated. 


A beautiful garden of flowers and roses does not appear overnight. It takes months of doing groundwork, shoveling, spading, planting, watering and nurturing.


Are you doing enough to nurture your soul and your positive attitude? Are you doing enough so that you can become a beacon of light?

For more read the 5 tips towards winning