It’s 2009. Another “New Year”.

And that only means one thing around these parts!…

… Starting the first week off by coming up with some thoughtful answers to this straight-forward question:

“What Are We Going to Do Differently in 2009?”

And, dear fine reader, while it might be fun, entertaining (and even a tad masochistic) for us to tell you we’ve ALREADY created a rock-solid plan of action for ourselves around that question, the no-BS (and let-us-just-keep-it-real) revelation is that we’re still at the drawing board.

But, as you know by now (you do, if you’ve been hanging with us for awhile), we’re not into entertaining self-denial, nor are we into molly-coddling metaphysical niceties.

Recently, a fellow metaphysical marketer told us our Renegade Growth Pak salespage is too gloomy — too NOT about joy, too dark.

“Well, Mr. Bubbly,” we countered with intentional facetiousness, “ah, okay, we’ll be sure to always look on the bright side in 2009.”

====== Continued =======

Let’s see. What’s the bright side of... always playing it safe; pretending you’re fine when you’re not; putting yourself on a pedestal by attempting to take responsibility for everybody else’s actions and behavior and presuming that EVERYTHING — yes, EVERYTHING — is a projection from inside you (i.e., Ho’oponopono — taking the concept of oneness to narcissistic levels); and seeing folks mesmerized by a movie (The Secret) that, as Stuart Davis tells it, “gives us a cure that’s worse than the disease”?

Uhmmmmm, this little exercise is getting fun now.

Indulge us some more!

What’s the bright side of... trying to repress or ignore anything “outside of you” (Forest reality — if you click, the video explains it) that is controversial, negative, or emotionally/mentally shocking? (“ignore it,” conventional spirituality says, “and you’ll grow stronger.” PUKE!)

What’s the bright side of… seeing a proliferation of people thinking they’re making a difference in the world by ONLY blowing good thoughts into the air for a peaceful planet? Or, the belief that, “If I end my emails and letters with ‘Namaste’, I am showing others how loving, kind and compassionate I am… all ‘love and light’, all the time!” (Just like a single-genre radio station, truth be told, huh?)

What’s the bright side of…  masses of people gravitating towards an Oprah-endorsed cryptic teacher who lets you know that if you see flaws in, or do not understand, his work, then you simply aren’t ready for enlightenment (his exact words: “the ‘unenlightened’ not only fail to understand what I’m saying, but also the very nature of reality.”)?

And, to finish off our soap-box fun, What’s the bright side of… incongruency (i.e, so-called “wealth teachers”  who continue to teach “wealth” even when they haven’t paid their expenses from last month, and can’t feed their families this month)?

Oh, dear loyal reader, we truly and honestly (cross our hearts) can’t think of anything  in all the above nonsense that promises true change.

“I learned a long time ago, you have to care enough about people to tell them what they need to hear, not WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR!” – Dale Calvert

Mystics, sages, saints, and wise gods have been saying for thousands and thousands of years that self-freedom and liberation comes about by FIRST being self-aware.

It’s apparent to us, however, that HOW to BE “self-aware” is where lot of folks have gotten tripped up lately.

Self-awareness comes about by understanding and embracing the things you fear most. We have community members who tell us they strive to FEEL a sense of constant happiness and positivity.

In their mind, “feeling” okay all the time means “BEING” okay.

And while feelings ABOUT something (i.e. gratitude, excitement) may lead to being (and then to having) when we’re talking about manifesting, it’s not about broadcasting the “all positive, all the time” radio station.

This false, illusory mindset is the same mindset that causes them to sign up for every “Positive Quote of the Day” email series they can find. Because they believe negativity (any of it — especially when it bubbles up within themselves) means “no control,” they’re in a perpetual state of identity fraud.

Their fix?

Simple.

A constant dose of touchy-feely quotes… or… hollow, me-too inspiration from mentors who make them feel good about themselves.

While there’s certainly nothing wrong with searching for encouragement, motivation, and uplifting advice when needed, it can be self-defeating if it’s used as a cop-out — a convenient excuse to do nothing — about addressing full-color reality.

Asking yourself “What am I going to do differently in 2009?” instead of ONLY lapping-up the feel-good sentiment that comes when asking, “What did I do right in 2008?” accomplishes two very useful things:

#1) It moves you past mediocrity and living off of past accomplishments.

#2) It makes you accountable to bigger, better, grander things.

In other words, the question displayed in this blog post’s title is the fuel for the truism we’ve all heard: “If you want what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done.”

So, here are a few things we didn’t have to think too hard about that are already on the “What are Barry & Heather going to do differently in 2009” drawing board:

>> More interaction with you: More conference calls and even a few LWL-organized “live” events.

>> Get Extensive Business Coaching:  Over the last 4 years we’ve sold millions of dollars’ worth of product and services in the personal-growth niche. Yet, we know, in order to continue what we do (which is accomplish more value in for more value out), we MUST (no question here) always up our game by having access to several coaches.

>> Offer Business Coaching: There are people who TEACH because they’re better at helping others than themselves (they teach what they need to learn). There are people who call themselves a “mentor” because they KNOW things — and know a lot of things.

Then, there are people who coach others from a place of experience — they’ve gotten personal RESULTS with their knowledge, contacts, and resources. They’re still in the trenches doing things, having fun, and reaping the rewards. And, guess what… being guided and advised (being coached) while they’re DOING.

Regardless of what we’ve accomplished in the past through to NOW, we wouldn’t dare offer YOU coaching UNLESS we we’re ALSO being coached. Yes, you can count on us to ONLY make ourselves available to you while others are ALSO available to us. More to come at: LWLCoaching.com

>> Set-up Processes to Live a Leveraged Lifestyle: Leverage is the ability to work smarter, not harder; the ability to get more done, deliver more value to more people, and make more money with less time and energy.

Delivering more value means it’s all about SERVING — increasing people’s awareness, changing perspectives, causing shifts in habits, transforming finances, etc., because you have a genuine interest in effecting change in the world, one person at a time. Leverage is the ability to replace yourself as much as possible.

When you market, promote, cultivate, coach, and provide Leadership to others, you are, whether you know it or not, using VALUE to fuel Leverage.

There ya have it… our in-progress list! Mainly “business stuff,” we know (some of the personal we want to share will come in near-future posts).

Okay, so based off what we know about a large portion of our active community (through the questions asked on our LWL Simulcasts, support desk inquiries, blog comments, phone conversations, etc.), we’ve come up with up with some suggestions of what YOU might want to do differently this year:

1. Stop following what a given mentor says or claims to be the truth just because you liked a book of theirs, or saw them in a movie.

Larry Winget, a.k.a. The Pitbull of Personal Development, calls that being a “Dittohead” because you mindlessly accept and agree with what someone says.  If you haven’t done this, you’ve seen it in action… and we’ve seen it so many times from our community members that it’s a safe bet you might have done it at least once.

Use your own critical thinking skills instead: Does what they say make sense to you? Does it resonate on a deep level?  If so, then you can accept it as a truth.  If not, form your own conclusions.

2. Stop being lazy about having the life that you truly think you want.

Does any of this sound familiar? You say you want something, and yet it takes too much effort to get it, so you complain instead.

If you’re like many of your peers in this community, you want it to be handed to you on a silver platter, or to be swallowed like a magic pill.

You hear the word “manifestation”, and you say, “I want it NOW!”  Like the guy who wrote into our ticket desk last week saying, “Help! I need to manifest $30,000 NOW!!!” When it doesn’t happen NOW, you get frustrated and go back to doing exactly what you did to get you where you currently are.

Ummm… can you say, “Duh!”?  Somebody (wasn’t it Einstein?) said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  So laziness breeds insanity… Stop the insanity! DO something to better your life!

Now, don’t start equating being lazy with the ability to relax and treat yourself (and your loved ones) well.  We believe in the power of getting a massage or a spa treatment every now and then, going to the chiropractor, the acupuncturist, the cranial-sacral therapist or the rolfer when you hurt or are misaligned, and taking it easy in the hot tub or sauna when you find yourself stressing out.

Being lazy is not the same as relaxing to keep your body in balance.  The former keeps you stuck, and the latter moves you ahead.  Embrace and love the difference.

3. Stop being a victim and looking for excuses.

Do you ever find yourself blaming your situation on others? Then drop the blame game and be self-accountable.

We hear people all the time whinig, “Why are you always trying to sell me something? It’s not fair!” or “I can’t afford to buy your product, it’s not fair!” or “I just lost my job, it’s not fair!” or “I’m really sick and can’t do anything but lie in bed feeling sorry for myself, it’s not fair!”

We hear things like, “I’m where I’m at because so-and-so did such-and-such,” or “The economy is terrible,” or “I need to take care of everybody else and have no time for myself.”

Well, get over it.  If you’re a victim, you’re choosing to be a victim.  If you want to feel sorry for yourself, you’re choosing to feel sorry for yourself.  If you’re putting everybody else’s needs before your own, you’re choosing to do that too.

Either accept that that’s what you want and quit complaining about it, or stop doing it.  This is a no-whine zone! (Wine’s nice every now and then, but not whine!)

4. Stop being a conclusion-jumper and assuming things that you don’t know.

Do you assume things happen for a certain reason without finding out the truth first? Then you’re only hurting yourself.

Heather’s brother is a conclusion-jumper, and so is his wife (a conclusion-jumper is somebody who jumps to conclusions, if you didn’t figure that out!)

They are both living with the illusion that their conclusions are correct; specifically that Heather did, said, meant or implied things ten years ago that she never did, said, meant or implied.  As a result they have locked Heather out of her brother’s life, and her niece’s life, for a decade (which is the niece’s whole life) and are now missing out on their own nephew’s life.

Rather than talk things out, which they still refuse to do, they would rather ignore, condemn, and assume that they’re right.  Yes, they’d rather be right than happy.

You know what they say about assuming, right?

Never ASSUME! It makes an ASS out of U and ME!

So stop being an ass and start being happy!

5. Start listening to others and really caring about what they have to say.

It’s the most powerful communication tool, and relationship enhancer, there is.

Dale Carnegie talks about it in How to Win Friends and Influence People.  Heather talks about it in her Interviewing Unwrapped product. Listening is one of the top skills you can develop, and sadly, most people spend their time waiting to talk than actually listening to what’s being said.

They hear things — the mechanical process that happens when sound waves hit their ear drums — but they don’t listen.  They don’t take in what’s being said, understand what it means, and respond in the best way possible.

Force yourself to listen, not just to hear, and you’ll be amazed at how your relationships develop.

Think you’ve got it all under control? Don’t think any of this applies to you?

Then here’s another one: Stop lying to yourself!

You wouldn’t even be reading this article if you were completely happy with everything that was going on in your life.  Don’t try to deny that… we know that some of you are thinking just that.

But be honest… why would you click a link taking you to a blog post about what you were going to do differently in 2009 if you loved everything about what happened in 2008?

Why would you even be on our subscriber list in the first place if you didn’t understand the value in constantly learning, growing, and develping ?

Yes, we know that some people will think we’ve been harsh with some of what we’ve written here.

But baby, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

We mentioned Larry Winget earlier on, the author of such best-selling books as You’re Broke Because You Want To Be, Shut Up, Stop Whining And Get A Life, and the new release, People Are Idiots And I Can Prove It!

He’s one of the toughest-talking, tell-it-like-it-is teachers we know.  He’s not afraid to lay it on the line, and operates from a stance of tough love rather than warm fuzzies.

And you know that, even if you might not always like it, that kind of teaching is often the most effective for making you look at your crap and start to clean it up.

And we’re going to put him on the hot seat (and, quite likely, he’ll put YOU or even us on the hot seat) in a live simulcast event next week.

You can sign up to attend at NO CHARGE by clicking here and filling in the form.

This is something you don’t want to miss if you really do want to start doing things — important things that will greatly impact your life — differently in 2009.

So why bother listening to people like him — or us — who don’t mind ruffling a few feathers in the quest for helping others? People who don’t respect the status quo, who don’t mind shaking things up, who come across as rebels and trouble-makers?

Well… we’ll let this ad say it for us.

Here’s to the crazy ones:

Your Partners in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

Filed under: Critical-Thinking, Goals-Intentions, Self-Freedom