H2H – The need to Humanise B2B Marketing.

Your products and services are and should only be extensions of your individual passion and belief system. Every time your customers interact with your brand they should feel as if they are interacting with you or your ideology.

Your Brand = You.
Your customer is your friend and your prospective customer is a great friend you are yet to make.

If you are in the driving seat of your business, i.e. C-Level Executive or Director, who need to take some serious decisions on a daily basis. I am sure that besides paying your bills, mortgage and funding your lifestyle there was surely a bigger reason why you took up such a senior role. I believe you did it consciously or unconsciously because you had the confidence, the aptitude and the will to take on greater responsibility and be answerable not just for yourself but also for hundred or thousands of your employees and thousands or millions of your customers.

I call you senior folks as ‘Problem Solvers’. The ‘Mums and Dads’ of the business world. The decisions that you take in your corporation irrespective of its size, will eventually affect the lives of a number of employees, customers and in turn the wider community.

Whenever I come across a Virgin brand, it feels like I am interacting with Richard Branson. When I use Apple products, it feels like I am being rubbed by the energy and zeal that Steve Jobs injected into Apple.

At BMA14, Cisco’s VP of Marketing – Karen Walker, said - "A brand is really an emotional connection you have with a product or service. Devotion to a brand begins and ends with an emotional connection. It's no longer about B2B or B2C—it's about being human-to-human." (http://www.fiercecmo.com/story/bma14-ciscos-walker-says-emotion-key-driving-b2b-loyalty-sales/2014-05-30)

Cisco is a B2B company but some one as senior as Karen has a new way of looking at B2B marketing. A small shift in the thinking process of the senior marketing team helps drive change in Cisco’s global corporate messaging. Human to Human is the correct phrase to use. B2B and B2C is still a good way to differentiate the type of customer you have but it does not mean that both set of companies cannot have the same level of ‘human marketing’. Whether it is B2B or B2C in both instances, your customer, the person who decides to make a buying decision is a human being.

When you are such a passionate individual, why should your brand communications, your films and your written text be so formal, prescriptive and dry? The B2B communication is plagued with over formality and archaic formats of communication. This I think stems from the fear of being perceived the wrong way. You don’t want to loose a million dollar deal because you used the wrong word, or dressed the wrong way or cracked a bad joke. In the attempt to secure the deal, many a times you wash away your personality from your communication, which makes your brand look very dry.

After 10 years, Oliver Altmann, formerly Chief Executive Officer at Publicis and veteran Paris creative, has founded a new agency called - Altmann+Pacreau. He says his motivation to start his own company is - "An opportunity to bring back the idea as the first priority and propose a media neutral agency, where media, technology as ways to touch a consumer, will come after, but not before the idea.” (http://adage.com/abstract?article_id=293490).

Arianna Huffington, recently mentioned that she sees the single biggest growth sector to be – Content Marketing. (http://www.inc.com/arianna-huffington/founders-forum-the-press-release-is-over.html). “Content is just a fancy word for Storytelling. Storytelling has always been at the heart of everything, whether you are a novelist or a brand. It can be very short, storytelling on twitter or visual story telling on Instagram or blog. Even with Huffington Post, a lot of traffic comes to the site because of where it is shared. The day of the press releases are over. Writing a post for your Facebook account could be a far more important strategy than just producing a strategy that is going to be trashed."

We have Karen Walker from Cisco talking about connecting emotionally with your customer and Arianna Huffington asking you to adopt a content marketing strategy. So how can you as a B2B marketer achieve that? I think the best way to do that is to tell the honest story, which is filmed well. Let the film tell your customer what you believe in. And I promise they will believe in your brand.

We at Ekstasy Films are passionate filmmakers, who love telling good stories. We truly believe that films are the most powerful means of communicating your message. We consult a wide variety of national and international brands and help them conceptualise and produce engaging and creative films for their brands, products or happy customer stories. In consultation sessions, we find that generally a lot of focus is given on ‘what they do’ and ‘how they do it’ as a business but very little attention is paid on ‘why they do what they do as a business.’ Simon Sinek, who famously speaks about the powerful model for inspirational leadership in his Ted talk – “Golden Circle” (http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action) says that answering the ‘why’ about your business helps you differentiate your brand in the market place and gives you a unique identity. I would say it also helps you humanise your product and services and helps establish a more meaningful connection with your customers.

By humanise I mean to communicate as you will to your friends and family.

So a good human B2B communication needs to be:

- Relaxed


- Enthusiastic

- Transparent

- Responsive

- Answerable

- Honest

- Engaging

- Conversational

Advantages of humanising your brand communications:

- You make your customers your friends. Which means they are more receptive of what you offer them and at the same time you are answerable, in terms of making sure that your product or service quality hits all the benchmarks.

- Suddenly communication and marketing becomes more fun. Its like organising a big party and takes away the stress of suffocating brand guidelines.

- Makes your brand real. If your brand makes a mistake, you can say Sorry and you will get a second chance.

- Have a more innovative brand.

- Customer feedback loop is enhanced.

- Helps you and your brand to Breathe and Relax a little, which aids in its longevity.

- Adds more value to your brand.

- Improves customer service and in turn increases customer retention and loyalty.

Some conceptual challenges we have overcome in our consultation sessions:

Typical Response One: We are too large a corporation and it is difficult for us to come across as human. How do we change that via this film?

We Say – The principles are the same as that of public speaking. You can address a gathering of two or a gathering of eighty thousand individuals. They all want to hear what you have to say from your heart. All you need to do is to communicate to them as if you were communicating to one person. Personalise your content, make it relevant for the target audience, and be genuine.

Typical Response Two:I know everyone in the industry and I don’t need to make an extra effort to communicate creatively with him or her on a regular basis.

We Say – So are you saying that because you love your partner and know them for a long time, you will become complacent in your relationship with them and stop wishing them on their birthdays or anniversaries and stop buying surprise gifts to express your gratitude for them to be in your life? Similarly you should not take your B2B customer relationships for granted.

Typical Response Three:My customers are very senior decision makers. They don’t like to see videos. They just want to read something and make a decision.

We Say – The power of video is now undisputed. Researches lead by Cisco and Gartner suggests that if a brand’s communication does not move towards video then it risks being labeled out-of-date. If time is of essence, then use shorter videos and get them produced very well. You will be surprised how much information you can pack into a 1 min video. Once the video has helped you win the attention of the senior decision maker then you can supply them with more written, image or verbal based communication.

In our current assessment of the B2B brands - Cisco and GE are leading the way in H2H marketing. But we know that there are a number of B2B brands out there that can improve their business many fold by adopting the Human approach. We at Ekstasy Films are working with some very aware brands that are using our help to humanise their brand messaging, by using the power of video.

Don't take them for granted

We all live within a complex social network. One of the most difficult things to do within this network is to maintain and build upon our relationships. Relationships which we value, derive our strength from and which give us a sense of belonging. These relationships can be with your partner, parents, siblings, cousins, friends, work colleagues and even online social network friends.

If you really value and cherish some of your relationships and want them to last forever, then please stop taking them for granted. It is not enough to just remember special dates but more importantly, it is imperative for you to be there for them when they need you the most, standing by their side, hearing them out patiently, even when it is difficult for them to make sense because they could be in a trauma, hurt or confused.

If you need them in your life, you need to reciprocate to their needs in the same way you want them to react to yours. It sounds simple, but hard to put into practice.

Moving into 2012, make yourself one promise that you will treat your precious relationships with care, and trust me you will feel a massive guilt off your conscience.

One smart tip to keep your close relationships fresh is to maintain a small separation, a breather or time to reflect, just when you feel that you have started to take your relationships for granted, give them a break and if they were really important to you, you will realise their value and go back to them with new impetus.

Intellectual Mediocrity

Over the years, I have spent time in the company of several great thinking minds, who helped me question things in a rational and humane way. During my studies and travels I have attended several seminars and conferences where some great minds have stimulated my grey cells like no substance could ever do.

But leaving some greats aside, I have started to see a pattern within the wider community of intellectuals. The pattern of being self absorbed, false open-mindedness of the other intellectual’s point of view, a strong desire to win support and get the listeners and other intellectuals to confirm with his / her line of thought and last of all, heightened tension enveloped within a senseless superiority complex. Which has seen me, as a attendee, who truly wished to be enlightened, leave the seminars feeling empty and cheated and find the whole purpose of intellectual discourse completely pointless.

In my opinion, a true intellectual is one who as according to the Oxford English dictionary “understands” (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/intellectual) a thought, an event or an idea and is able rationalize that by accepting opinions from other intellectuals, scholars and thinkers who put forward their opinions and suggestions and is able to ‘truly take on board’, not pretend to, these ‘other’ opinions and explanations and then is able to reason it and able to present the most intellectually stimulating, rationale argument.

Unfortunately, what I see in the current situation is that the intellectuals have stopped “listening” or are “pretending to listen”, are more concerned about how many articles and books they got published and how many international seminars they attended. It is a humble request to our intellectual community, in this age of cut throat commercial competition and confused social and political times, we the people, are in great need of sensible well reasoned intellectual advice. Don’t go for the momentary applause and try and win some nods in your seminars or rave reviews for your articles from fellow pseudo intellectuals. Try and do the job of an intellectual, which is to provide the society with a well rounded, balanced, mature argument and food for thought.

I am waiting to be intellectually stimulated. And I am sure millions of others are, all day, round the clock, either knowingly or unknowingly.

How to put Relationship Marketing into practice?

Relationship marketing as a vague concept, which becomes clear only when put into practice. Purely because building a relationship is the primary goal or should be the primary goal of every business endeavour at every stage of its interaction with its customer. You should clearly not aim to just get an impulsive buy from your client and then forget about them and move on because then that is not business, it is immoral opportunism.

A good moral and ethical business will develop a relationship marketing plan and allocate a budget for it. In my opinion relationship marketing kicks in from the very first contact the company makes with the potential client. and through the journey of trust building and helping the prospect to turn into a client. and then keeping the client a happy client as part of the acquisition stage. and then into the loyalty stage. You build relationships at all stages of your customer journey. Just like a real life relationship with family, partner or friend.
But you got to remember that relationships will not always be positive, they might involve, conflict, struggle, negotiation, unhappy moments, disbelief, discomfort, malice.

It is here that the company needs to behave like a modern father to a child. Where it should be patient and if the child is making unreasonable demands, take the argument on board and then try and resolve the conflict through the eyes of the customer / child. But equally, if you were in the wrong go forward and apologise to your kids and pick them up, hug them and kiss them and maybe buy them their favourite treat. I hope you get the drift.

Interestingly enough, I feel relationship marketing is very similar to improvisation in theatre practice. You Accept what the customer says or reacts, ie action and then you build upon it. Rather than having a monologue of trying to just sell sell sell. You understand what the customer is trying to say and then react accordingly. Establish a Dialogue, which is the basis of all great relationships.

I must confess that the closest any marketing tool has come to creating clear communication or dialogue and trust building, besides face to face meetings is - video marketing. Produce a short 30 sec to 2 min short film on what you are trying to communicate to your customer at the level of relationship you are at with them and then allow them to feed their responses back to you via social media, company website, emails, letters or blogs.

If you would like to know more about how to best utilise video production and video marketing in your endeavour to champion relationship marketing, then please feel free to contact Mike Saraswat or Indu Pillai at Ekstasy Ltd (mike@ekstasy.co or indu@ekstasy.co)

Comments On Clothing

Wearing clothes is a good idea, as not wearing them might cause greater discrimination on the basis of other physical facets!

And must I say, they also keep you warm and protect you from dust and other harmful substances. In other words, wearing clothes cause social, cultural, sexual and economic discrimination, whereas not wearing clothes causes physical discrimination. Is discrimination wrong?

Well to me, this discrimination is nothing more than a form of differentiation, it is just another way for humans to identify themselves. 'You are what others are not!' But try not to be rude in the process.

FREE YOURSELF NOW!!!

WHO AM I??
Am I am a money hungry businessman? or a maverick thinker?
Or am I just another fool, thinking too much about myself with no real significance?

On the 1st of February 2011, I realised that I am the Struggle. I am the Pain. I am what I Think, whatever in my little brain. Trust me, it is true, freedom is not outside, it is Within.

For some reason life had caught up. And I was going through its motions. But not any more. On that day, I had the most important conversations of all. I spoke to Myself. And I and Me decided that I had to take control of what made me Happy. And that was the joy of performance, of writing, of music and touching people's lives with my actions.

All you people, STOP!!! Take yourself out on a date. And ask yourself, what is it that you would really like to do? What is that truly defines you?? And trust me, you will give yourself an answer. Just be brave enough to go ahead and do it.

If you make it, nothing like it. If you didn't, you will die satisfied, because at least you tired!!

FREE Yourself NOW--- All the best.

Do not use Mr Om Puri as a scapegoat

Mr Om Puri, the politicians might not have understood you but 'we' the common man has.

As a very proud citizen of India, who has been touched and inspired by Anna's movement, I echo the voice of millions of Indians who feel that a vast majority of politicians, have court cases and some very serious unresolved charges against them. And there are several other selfish politicians who only come into power to fulfil their own personal selfish ends.This is what Mr Om Puri was trying to convey on stage, maybe in not the most politically correct fashion.

Several of my friends, near and dear ones,and myself, feel that Mr Om Puri never insulted the parliament or the very institution of democracy.

We appeal to our Dear Politicians - please stop being so sensitive. The country has been insulted and harmed time and time again for decades due to the irresponsible behaviour of some of the unrighteous politicians and our outcry was never heard.

We feel that he has the complete right to say what he said. He has the freedom of speech. We are all frustrated with the scandals, the double standards and the false promises. India could have doubled or even trebled their growth, if the corrupt politicians had not come in the way. We have a very big international agenda, and we cannot let the corrupt politicians use the pious democratic system of Indian democracy to drain the country of its riches.

I appeal to all the righteous politicians who have a clear conscience and are really trying to do good for our Indian community, to support Mr Om Puri and all the citizens to try and amend the wrong, which is happening in the core of our political system.

To the good politicians, who have become a little sensitive about Mr Om Puri's remarks, I only have to say this - "One bad apple spoils the bunch." Rather than making Mr Om Puri a scapegoat, please work harder to improve the image of your political community, if you don't wish to hear these remarks from the common man, again, again and yet again.

If you continue bashing Mr Om Puri, our (the common man's) confidence will keep decreasing in your ability to tackle the serious issues. And to some extent we feel that you are trying to curb our (the common man's) voice.

Jai Anna Hazare!! Jai Hindustan!!

Opium / Nasha is good for Life

I have for a very long time been struggling with the question of who we are and what is the purpose of our lives? Both scientific and religious explanations seem to be unflattering and the end of their wits.

I discovered a little secret the other day. There is no explanation and maybe in our generation's lifetime we will never have an explanation or even worse our human species in its eternity of its existence will never find the true reason of its existence and just continue its quest of self discovery.

I say the only way to live with dignity, a lot of self confidence and a true purpose of life, is to get addicted. Find your OPIUM / NASHA.

The opium I am talking about is more addictive and intoxicating than any actual substance based drug, tablet or powder. The true opium of our lives is the passion or that one idea that we are obsessed with and feel for it so strongly that it helps us to define our lives.

For you your Opium could be to be a good lover / father / mother / child / grandparent or someone who carers for the world's lesser fortunate. You could find your Nasha in your profession - being the best doctor, teacher or scientist. Or you could just have the desire to be the richest man alive or be politically very powerful or be the fastest runner alive, the most loved actor or a rock star or maybe an intellectual.

Your opium need not be a grand idea or goal or of world domination or extraordinary excellence, it can be of simple things in life, to be a good providing husband, to lead a dignified respectable living or even to master your fly fishing skills or increase your coin collection or whatever.

Just remember keep your passions positive, they should not hurt, kill or be unjust to anybody, including animals or nature.

Many people call this Nasha / Opium the True Calling. If you find it difficult to find your True Calling, then speak to me. I am not God or his Oracle but may be we could talk and help you find out your True Calling. Find out what really gets you ticking.

Stay addicted, there is nothing like the high of life.

3 Simple Steps to Become an Entrepreneur

3 Simple Steps to become an Entrepreneur

Ladies and gentlemen, there is so much malarkey and confusing gibberish of long mundane monologues of how to become an entrepreneur and what you should do and shouldn’t do and where to start and where to exit. Instead of it being good solid advice, it is just a little over patronising, irritating and rather than being music to the ears it is a lot of din.

There are only three simple steps to becoming an entrepreneur:

1)    CHOOSE a product or a service that you feel (from an unbiased and detached perspective) that if you were to buy it, you as an individual or a business owner, would feel genuinely helped, find value for money and would like to refer it to your friends and colleagues. This will show you that your product is worth the market’s attention because it is worth yours.

2)    SELL. Stop over planning and strategising till the cows come home. There are no grand plans, no formulas to success. All you got to do is to throw yourself into the deep end. Try different things, offline marketing, online marketing, experiential, PR, advertising. Do not be afraid to experiment. But remember to spread your budget across all these mediums and do not keep all your eggs in one basket. If you have no money and still wish to make sales then use the free online promotional mediums (website, twitter, linkedin, blogs, facebook) and start selling yourself using direct channels like the telephone, emails and the post (use this only for hot interests).

3)    BELIEVE, ADAPT and PERSIST.

Practice all the above three simple steps and trust me, you will be an entrepreneur, a force in business to reckon with.

If you cant understand any of the above, drop me an email on - mikesaraswat@gmail.com 

All the Best. 

Napolean Hill : The Laws of Success - a brief summary and links to video

Napolean Hill : Think and Grow Rich - Laws of Success

Lesson 1: Definiteness of purpose

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.

Have a clear picture of what you want in life in your mind.

We all come with two envelopes from the time we are born.

Envelope 1: "riches"

- Sound health 

-peace of mind 

- a labour of love of your own choice

- freedom from fear and worry

- a positive mental attitude

- material riches of your own choice and quantity

Envelope 2: "penalties"

- ill health

- fear and worry

- indecision and doubt

- frustration and discouragement throughout life

- poverty and want

- a whole flock of evil consisting of envy, greed, jealousy, anger, hatred and superstition

If you wish to write your own ticket from here on out for the remainder of your life--- 

Instructions:

A) prepare a neat pocket size notebook.

On page one write down a clear description of your major desire in life - the one circumstance, position or thing, which you will be willing to expect as the idea of success. 

And remember, before you begin writing, that your only limitations are those which you set up in your own mind or permit others to set up for you.

B) on page two of your notebook write down a clear statement of precisely what you intend to give in return of what you desire from life. 

C) Memorise both the statements. What you desire and what you intend to give in return for it. And repeat them at least a dozen times daily. 

End your statements with this expression of gratitude for the blessings which you were gifted at birth - "I ask not, oh divine providence for more riches but more wisdom with which to accept and use wisely the riches that I received at birth in the form of the power to control and direct my mind to whatever ends I desire."

Lesson 2: mastermind principle

It consists of two or more people who work in perfect harmony for the attainment of a definite purpose.

E.g. - the declaration of independence

You need trust, education and experience and capital from others.

Form a mastermind alliance with your associates in your organisation or work place. 

How to apply the mastermind principle - Increase your own income, promote yourself to a higher position, to get full cooperation of your management. Write your own price tag, fix your own wages, establish your own working hours and give yourself financial independence. 

Three things to do:

- decide definitely where you wish to be and what you wish to be doing in the next three years. 

- decide how much money you need to be making and what you are going to do to earn it.

- form a mastermind alliance with one person in your family and one other person to whom you are selling your services.

There is nothing such as something for nothing. For everything including your personal success there is a price that must be paid. And the only price you are requested to pay for your present is the effort necessary to do the three simple things that I have suggested.

Before you take the three steps- control your mental attitude and make yourself friendly and agreeable with those who you are going to relate to.

Your mental attitude is the one and the only thing over which you can have complete control. 

Remember success is something which has to be planned. Success is something which has to be earned in advance. 

Success is the knowledge to get whatever you want from life without violating the rights of others and helping others to acquire it. 

I can never give you for which you are not ready. 

Lesson 3: the habit of going the extra mile

Which means the habit of tendring more and better service than one is expected to render and doing it in a positive mental attitude. 

QQMA formula = quality of service you render + quantity of service your render + mental attitude in which you render your service = determines the space you occupy in your chosen calling an the compensation you get for your services. 

benefits -

- bring you to the favourable attention of those who can and will provide you with opportunities to promote yourself into a better circumstance

- it will place at back of you that great natural law of increasing returns of which the service you render will bring back greater than average compensation

- making this habit will make you indispensable in your chosen occupation 

- help you to excel in your line of work

- if you work for a salary this habit will give you preference, when work is slack and others are laid off.

- it will help you benefit from the law of contrast because those around you will not be making efforts for going the first mile let alone the second mile 

- improve your personality and liked by others

- keen and alert imagination 

- it will inspire you to move on your own personal initiative instead of waiting to be told what to do

- helps you master the habit of procrastination. Biggest reason for failure. 

- going the extra mile influences other people to respect your integrity and inspires them to go out of the way to help you in a friendly spirit

- develop definiteness of purpose

- provides you the one and only purpose to get a promotion to be at a better place in life

- conditions your mind to maintain a mastermind alliance with others

The law of increasing return comes to those who go the extra mile.

Service / job 

Instructions: 

A) render some form of useful service to someone who you are not supposed to for which you neither expect or ask for compensation.

B) render this service in a pleasing mental attitude, which will show that you enjoy doing it.

C) do this for at least 7 working days.  

Lesson 4: applied faith

Is the mental attitude where you can free your mind of all fears and doubts and direct it to whatever you desire in life. 

You can use faith in two ways -

- either by putting it in reverse gear use it in a negative way by allowing your mind to dwell upon the circumstances and things that you do not want such as poverty, I'll health, failure defeat.

- positive

successful people see in the - capacity of belief. 

you should begin with believing that you were born with the privilege of complete control over your own mind.

poverty, fear, illiteracy and superstition are four horsemen who keep you bound when you are born. Applied faith helps you get out of it.

Instructions:

- Know what you want and believe that you can and will get it.

- give expressions of gratitude several times a day for having received what you what, even before you actually get physical possession of it. 

- keep your mind to hunches from within. There can be no application of applied faith without action.

- when overtaken by defeat, remember man's faith is tested many times before he is crowned with final victory and accept your defeat as nothing more than a challenge to keep on trying.

- a burning desire. Be definite, believe and act. 

- when doubt creeps in your mind. Remember whatsoever a man believeth that he shall also reap.

Faith is not something you get, faith is something you already have. 

Faith is guidance only and will not bring you what you want but will help you keep going to get you what you want. 

remember that your faith is limited to your only capacity to believe. you can do whatever you make up your mind to do.

Believe and you Shall Receive.

Lesson 5: pleasing personality

See your personality just as others see it.

Traits:

- mental attitude. Keep positive. Tone of your voice, expression on your face, courtesy and consideration.

- flexibility of your mental attitude, without losing your composure or becoming angry. You cannot control others actions but you can control your reactions to the acts of others.

- ability to control and direct the emotion of enthusiasm. Uncontrolled enthusiasm makes people boresome and easily influenced by people by ideas that you would not like to be. 

- sincerity of purpose. 

Common habits which destroy a pleasing personality:

- one of the most destructive habits are of breaking in and running away in conversations when others are speaking.

- sarcasm expressed by insinuating and wisecracks which are not so wise.

- vanity expressed by words or actions makes you unpopular.

- indifference in listening while others are speaking. 

- attempt to flatter, where flattery is not accepted.

- finding fault with people around you and the world at large.

- openly and directly challenging those with ones who may not agree.

- habit of volunteering unsolicited advice to others who have not requested it. 

- habit of speaking about ones physical ailments.

- habit of use of words or topics unfamiliar to others.

- envy of those who are successful.

- carelessness and bad dressing.

Lesson 6: principle of self discipline

Mastering your negative habits and development and enforcement of your positive habits. 

Rules:

- mastery over the Tongue. Thinking before you start speaking. After you are sure will not insure others.

- exercise discipline to not alder those who have an agenda against you. Forgive and forget.

- control your emotions of love, hate, fear and sex. they can make you and break you.

- your mental attitude needs discipline and control at all times. 

- failure to exercise control on sex. 

- stomach needs discipline on dieting and fasting

- religion and politics

- taking possession of your own mind. need a system. 

Give us the freedom from the fear of death.

habit of taking the lines of least resistant makes all rivers and some men crooked.

Lesson 7: positive mental attitude

- learn to adjust yourself to other peoples state of mind and difficulties. 

- establish for yourself an established fixed system of conditioning your mind at the beginning of each day, to keep yourself positive under all circumstances. 

- Do not make yourself be drawn into arguments over unimportant things.

- adopt the habit of having a good hearty laugh whenever you angry or agitated and it will help you if you begin your day with at least one minute of hearty laughing.

- start each day with an expression of gratitude for all the adversities, defeats and failures you have experienced in the past. 

- then give thanks to the blessing you expect to receive during the day. 

- learn to concentrate the attention on the can do portion of your desire or your problem.

- learn to transmute all unpleasant circumstances into immediate action which calls for a positive mental attitude and make this a fixed habit.

- recognise that every circumstance that influences your life, pleasant or unpleasant is risked or you are a mill of life. Strength grows out of your struggles.

- look upon your life as a continuos process of education. 

- make the world over to fit your own pattern by begin with yourself in some sort of self improvement and open minded.

- express gratitude twice for having being given complete control over your own mind and ask for guidance that you might use this profound gift wisely in all your thought and acts. 

- go out of your way to mention the positive qualities of the people you work and live with daily.

- accept all criticism of yourself as self examination to determine how much of it is justified.

- do not accept from life or anyone else anything that you do not desire. 

There are two kinds of worries - one that you can do something about and the other you can't do anything about.

- If you ever be so unfortunate to ever feel so sorry for yourself, find someone who is worse off than yourself and start by helping them. 

- choose some person who you would like to be. Then go to work and emulate them in your actions.

- cultivate a pleasing tone of voice. Sound of your voice is an open window for others to peep into your soul. 

- write out this sentence so that u see it every day - "whatever a mind can conceive and belief, the mind can achieve."

And you are the only person who influences your positive attitude. 

Your entire life's decision rests on it. what are you gonna do about it. 

William James - The emotions are not immediately subjected to reason but they are always immediately subjected to actions. 

Lesson 8: enthusiasm 

Knowledge is power. It is only half the truth because knowledge becomes into power only when it is put into action for the attainment of a definite objective. 

Everyone's brain is both a broadcasting and a receiving station. 

Enthusiasm is one of the most important traits necessary for leadership.

what to do when you meet a person:

- turn up your enthusiasm and modulate your voice so that the other person feels you are happy to communicate with them.

- when you shake his hand take a firm grip on it. and give it a quick firm squeeze at the end of each word that you use. E.g. How do you do. I am so very glad to meet you. 

- then if you begin conversation be sure it is of interest to the other person.

- follow questions to focus attention on that other person all the time.

- the best principle of salesmanship is to first sell others to themselves. 

Instructions:

- speak enthusiastically for 10 minute by loud reading. Write down a list of 10 things that you like best. 

- practise enthusiasm with friends and colleagues and family.

Where there is no motive there is no enthusiasm.

The three motives are:

- emotion of love

- emotion of sex

- desire for financial gain

Lesson 9: personal initiative 

Personal Initiative is the dynamo which starts the faculty of imagination into action. 

HJ Curtis owner of washington post said that - there are two kinds of men who never amount to much - who cannot do as they are told, and those who can do nothing else. 

Those who amount to something worthwhile in life, are those who move on their own personal initiative. 

The men who stand out on the minds of the public as the greatest successes from the days of George Washington, onto the present, are those who chose their own occupation business or profession and moved on their own personal initiative to achieve their purpose. 

A winner never quits and a quitter never wins. 

A big success is made up of a great number of little circumstances, each of which is small and seemingly insignificant that most people pass it by as not worthy of notice. 

Attributes of a person with personal initiative:

- Has a definite major purpose in life and a plan for it's attainment. 

- a mastermind Alliance.

- necessary persistence and will to win.

- he makes decisions promptly of he has the facts that he wishes to base them on. 

- he follows the habit of doing more than he is paid for in a pleasing and positive mental attitude. 

- to accept the full responsibility of your actions. 

- takes friendly criticism positively. 

- he knows the nine basic motives are of the human endeavours.

- he never expresses an opinion unless the has adequate knowledge or experience.

- listening much and talking only when it is beneficial. 

- well developed habit of observation of detail. 

- he never tells anyone anything why it should be done and how it can be done best. 

- he follows the habit of concentrating full attention on one thing at a time. 

- his mental attitude is positive at all times in communication with other people.

- if asked a question, he will give you a direct answer even if it is to say that he does not know the answer. 

- he never puts off until tomorrow which should have been done last week. 

your own promotion is entirely in your own hands.

Lesson 10: Overcoming adversity and defeat

Your positive metal attitude is the only means that you can convert your adversities, failures and defeats into assets.

Isn't it strange so often people have to be cut down by failure and defeat before they learn that they have minds capable of mastering all of their problems. 

every individual has the freedom of thought and actions.

it is definitely a part of the overall plan of the universe to give man the benefits of only those blessings he recognises, embraces and uses constructively. 

In nature it is a law that you lose that you do not use. 

Nothing can be called failure until you accept it as such. 

Lesson 11: creative vision

Imagination is the workshop wherein we fashion the purposes of our brain and the ideals of our soul. 

Two forms:

A) synthetic imagination - organising and putting together of recognised ideas, concepts and facts arranged in a new combination. Very seldom anyone creates an idea which is new.

B) creative imagination - which operates through the sixth sense and has its base in the sub conscious section of the brain and serves as the exclusive medium through which new ideas or facts are revealed.

All the good ideas have been used up. Did I hear you say? Quite to the contrary the best ideas are yet to be revealed and put to service for the greater good of mankind. 

There are no more opportunities to become rich. Did I hear you say? If you will give me an acceptable plan for influencing married people to adopt and use the mastermind principle. or training sales people. 

Lesson 12: rules of accurate thinking

- based on two simple fundamentals - inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. IR is used when the necessary facts on which to base your reasoning are not available. In this case you act on hypothesis. DR is used when you have the facts or what appear the facts, to base your thinking. 

Separate facts from fiction.

Separate facts into two classes - important and unimportant facts.

what is an important fact? - any fact which will aid you in any extent whatsoever which will help you attain the object of your major purpose in life.  

Lesson 13: Cosmic Habit Force

This law gives definiteness of action to everything, which moves throughout the entire universe. It keeps the stars and planets in their desired places and it fixes the life patterns of every living thing from the smallest insect to the largest animal, excepting the only man, who has been given the means by which he may use this law to establish his own habits and determine his own desires and movements throughout life.

Cosmic Habit Force can have a positive and a negative influence both at the same time. The negative application of this law is called “Hypnotic Rhythm”. Which means, among other possible results, it fastens upon individuals that by neglect to fix our thoughts upon the things we desire in life and thereby gain the power of cosmic habit force in attaining these desires, the law automatically acts through the negative hypnotic feature and fixes our mind on things we do not desire, and attracts to us the physical counterparts of these desires.

The nearest description to the cosmic habit force is the Emersons law of compensation – in which he clearly establishes the truth that nothing ever just happens by luck but every effect has its definite cause or be it we often observe effects, the causes of which we cannot isolate or understand.

Cosmic Habit Force fixes the pattern of the electrons and the protons and the chemical reactions between them. For example, one grain of wheat only produces one grain of wheat, never a pumpkin. One atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen combined always produce water. Understand the power of sex as being the power of cosmic habit force as being the ultimate power to generate and create, we need to control the power of sexual emotion.

We sometimes hear of successful people as being on the beam. By which they mean they mean that those who enjoy success have established a success though pattern in their mind, which cosmic habit force has picked and carried out to its logical conclusion.

You are on the beam when you can truthfully say  - “I know precisely what I what from life and I have faith that I shall get it.”

You are not on the beam when you don’t have a major definite purpose and are drifting aimlessly through life. People who are failures are also on the beam, but they are on the negative side of the beam because they have neglected to use those riches, which came over with them in that sealed envelope. And they have placed themselves under the hypnotic rhythm, which is the negative application of cosmic habit force. There is one word which doctors dread and it is fixation, which means that a sick person believes in his sickness as something that cannot be cured. Fixation can become a priceless asset for those who have discovered the great master key of success and have learnt how to develop fixation in their minds based on the things that they desire most in life. Cosmic habit force is the power which makes things permanent.

Lastly, remember that your mental attitude is something that you control outright, and you must use self discipline until you create a thought pattern or thought habits, which keeps your mental attitude positive at all times. Your mental attitude is important because it acts as a magnet which attracts to you every single thing, every circumstance, which makes you what you are and where you are.

If you wish to keep on the beam that leads to success, be sure that you give cosmic habit force a though pattern, based on the things that you want the most in life and it will do the rest.