Short news, product updates, research from last week, and/or heads-up about select things we’ll be talking about, releasing and/or endorsing over the coming week.

Hey, first off, high-fives to everyone who has commented on our our latest Hidden Heroes post (posted yesterday). It’s apparent that you dig people who persist, work hard, and fulfill a vision to its experienced level (yes, the HEROES we’ll be highlighting just don’t sit around wishing, affirming, envisioning, or waiting… they move, they engage, they improvise as they’re playing out their desires).

Keep your eyes on this space for more Heroes.

Okay, so, lets get into some of today’s items for discussion:

Why Does The World Love An Underdog?

One of the world’s biggest media sensations of late, in contrast to our highlighted Hidden Heroes, was a “waiter”, a “wisher”, for too much of her life. She put off “doing”, and put off giving value to the world, all the while wondering why value didn’t come back to her. She had a dream, but didn’t follow through on making it happen. She decided that her comfort zone, and victimitis excuses, were more appealing than facing fears.

Well, sure, comfort zones seem like a good idea at first glance. Heck, they’re comfortable, right? But on closer examination, it’s obvious that they also keep us stuck.

“Good things come to those who wait” is a very misleading phrase. The truth is: good things come to those who go out and get them. Opportunity’s not going to come knocking on your door while you sit on the couch and wish for it, and nobody’s going to give you a chance unless you ask for it.

Here’s Heather’s admittedly unpopular, but much needed, view on the Susan Boyle phenomenon.

The Recession Isn’t Hype — It’s As Real As Your Finger!

Hey, it’s the best real “thing” we could come up with to start off our point here (it was easy to come up with… we just looked down at the keyboard and saw some fingers typing these words).

Over the past few weeks, there’s been a mass herd-like stampede, from 50 or so well-meaning (read: in-crowd, let-me-jump-on-the-party-train) marketers whose email subject lines start with stuff like:

“Don’t Believe The Hype”

“The Recession Is Only In Your Head”

Well, while we’d love to be able to pass along some facts about how the REAL “outside” world (Forest Reality, as we’ve called it before) — the one engineered and lead by insiders, elites, and appointed (not elected) politicians — is just playing fun, hypnotic, grade-school games with you, the TRUTH is, it’s NOT !

And, we’ll venture to  tell you, with 100% conviction, that buying into some Bob Proctor prodigy who associates you with Chicken Little for trying to tackle the effect of a problem, in a collective way, isn’t going to get you any further.

Brian Wong, the guy who wants you to pretend all is well, writes:

Here is the simple truth. There is no “the economy”… there is only your economy. Let me say that again… in caps… just to make sure you don’t miss it.

THERE IS NO “THE ECONOMY” — THERE IS ONLY YOUR ECONOMY.

The media however wants you to believe that we’re all in this together. Hah! If that’s the case, how do you explain the fact that there were more millionaires created during the Great Depression than in any other era of American history?

Well, Brian, while the cutesy expression above may ATTRACT millions of spiritual neophytes who clamor to anybody or anything that’ll give them validation for withdrawing from the “world”, it’s just nothing more than, well, ah-hem, “cute” for anybody who can think for themselves and extrapolate “action plans” in the face of adversity and bad news.

You see, the FIRST principle any NEW Great Depression millionaire took grasp of is the truth that they WERE indeed in something not so grand (a smelly pile of “economic” horseshit) with OTHERS.

Nobody, regardless of how privileged, connected, intelligent, or aware, is an island on his/her own. Your quest to help people SEE sun in a pile of dust is commendable, but your approach is very similar to the New Agers who, metaphorically, are in a holding pattern above the airport refusing to land.

In other words, reality is reality — and regardless of what feel-good spin you douse it with, certain things always stay the same:

* Wealth only comes AFTER value is given, never before!

* Value only is expressed AFTER you contribute your time and/or resources to others.

* Self-sufficiency and a pioneering spirit is what sparks the contribution.

Yet, the rub is:

* Contribution becomes stifled when you employ the “I’m only in it for, and by, myself” mentality.

Speaking of the Economy — The President Ain’t No Cheerleader

Now, of course, his statement below is all part of a bigger game, but at least he ain’t a pretender 🙂

“2009 will continue to be a difficult year for America’s economy. And, obviously most difficult for those who’ve lost their jobs. The severity of this recession WILL cause more job loss, more foreclosure, and more pain BEFORE it ends.” — President Barack Obama

Well, okay, Dear Pres, we get it… the stage is set. No biggie!  We know the game plan for the year. We hear ya loud and clear.  Fear-mongering? Nah, that’s not you… you’ve got mind-numbed cronies for that stuff.

You’re playing it real, baaaaaaby! We dig dat! With over 13 million unemployed folks, though, we’ll still pretend that it’s ONLY a “me economy” — er, NOT!

And, Peter Schiff, we think you make about as much sense as anybody lately. Kudos to you for staying the course. (If you don’t know who he is, watch as many of his videos as you can to get a feel for the practical common sense ideas his mind comes up with for fixing the economic challenges that the world faces.)

A Most Brilliant Statement About TRUST!

By now, you’ve probably heard the buzz about Twitter, the social networking site that uses micro-blogging to keep people connected. In this 3-minute video interview, Joel Comm, the creator of The Next Internet Millionaire (a reality online T.V. show that was co-hosted by Heather) and author of the book Twitter Power, tells how a simple “tweet” can help you market your business.

Pay careful attention to what he says towards the end of the video. It’s priceless!

Here’s the VIDEO (Wait to get past the 22-second American Express — not MasterCard — commercial) 😉

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Filed under: 7-Minute Round-Up