Karl Blog

Hello and a big happy Friday to you!

I write this blog post today from a troubled Thailand - where I am currently stranded, after anti-Government protestors took over the two main airports in Bangkok.

It'll all sort out over the next few days - peacefully, I hope - however I've spent the past few days waiting to return home.

Now, as regular readers know, I've been planning on writing a couple of new self-development books, which I intend to release early next year.

This morning, I decided to put pen to paper (or rather, finger to keyboard) and tap out my first draft. While hanging around.

I spent a couple of disjointed hours working - between swimming in the ocean and relaxing in the various local bars.

And I've already finished over 40% of the final book.

Absolutely amazing.

My first book took a full month to write. My second took a month working just evenings. It looks like the next couple will take a week in total. If that.

How is it possible to knock out a book so quickly?

Well... it's not what you know... it's who you know!

If you've got a book inside that you'd like to get out - and quickly - I'd like to recommend a great friend of mine.

He's called Nick Daws - and in his course, "How to Write Any Book in 28 Days - Or Less!", he shares the techniques YOU can use to do the exact same thing.

Now I can't recommend this course enough. I really can't.

His many "secret" methods - especially "blueprinting" - work absolute wonders. He'll enable you to creatively write a WONDERFUL book - working just minutes a day.

So if you've got a book burning inside of you, fiction or non-fiction, let me recommend Nick's course to you:

http://www.writequickly.com/

I personally recommend it.

And at this rate - by the time I get home, I'll have finished both of my own!

See you soon :)

Labels: friends, recommendations, writing

Last week, I headed out into a nearby city to have dinner with friends.

During the evening, I bumped into an old associate.

I won't give his name, but let's just say he's one of the "street cred" guys that I don't normally get along with too well. One of those people I view as a bit vain, a bit too much hard work, someone to whom image is everything.

The guy came up to me during the evening and made a special attempt to talk with me. I responded... And we began chatting quite normally.

Then, mid-way through our conversation, he just walked away.

"Ehh?" I thought.

What on earth would cause somebody to do that?

Is it me? Am I a bad conversationalist? Was I somehow not quite street cred enough? Did I do something wrong?

It really made me think.

Later that evening, I retold the whole story to a very close friend of mine, someone who knows this individual.

"I know exactly what you mean!" came his words. "He does that all the time. I think he gets a bit nervous when he can't follow a conversation through."

Oh, I thought. Maybe it wasn't me then.

But my friend continued...

"I'll tell you what DID annoy me however..." - and he went on to describe one gentleman who'd been talking to us both about "brown-nosing" his way up the corporate ladder, something I hadn't found the least bit annoying.

And then I realized... How absolutely EVERYONE viewed EVERYTHING through their own filters.

I thought Mr Street Cred was being completely rude. My friend didn't.

My friend thought our brown-nosing associate was being annoying. I didn't.

Two different people. Two totally different experiences.

Why didn't we both experience the same?

Because our filters changed what we saw!

I saw Mr Street Cred as being rude, because I'm personally quite unsure of that "street cred" side in myself. Inside, I don't think I quite cut it.

And my friend saw the associate as being an ass, as he'd experienced the unfair side of brown-nosing, career climbers in the past.

To me, it was an interesting revelation.

What if EVERYTHING you're seeing right now is really just an experience?

What if every single thought and opinion is just a result of our filters and our programming?

Consider the possibility that maybe every single annoyance, every action of your filter, is an OPPORTUNITY to recognize and DEVELOP a new part of yourself...

Let me ask... Are YOU living as prisoner to your thoughts?

I certainly am!

But at least when we recognize that, we get an opportunity to let go of it - and realize that maybe it's not about you anymore, maybe it's not as black-and-white as you see it.

Here's my little challenge for today.

Firstly, recognize the things that affect you right now.

What annoys you about other people? Who is frustrating you? Why?

Secondly, consider that maybe -- just maybe -- this is simply a result of your filters and your programming.

Are they really being rude, or is it just that you've been brought up to believe they're being rude?

("Me and the rest of the world, Karl, they WERE rude!" -- Of course! Accept that!)

Thirdly, allow yourself to drop the labels behind the action.

Let go of giving it a name. It was just an experience. And let go of wanting it to happen again. (Paradoxically, we often want the things we think we don't. So letting go of wanting it to happen is a great way of releasing on that worry.)

To learn more about dropping the labels, read my post here: http://www.karlblog.com/blog/2007/02/ditch-labels.html

Fourthly, BE FREE.

Enjoy :)

Labels: friends, inspiration, self-development