Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

If you’re new to blogging, you’re probably interested in learning how to attract more readers to your site. Many articles have been written by other bloggers but the most effective suggestion I can make is to submit your site to StumbleUpon. I ran across StumbleUpon last year, before I even started blogging.

The concept is unique, fun, and effective, both for the reader as it is for the blogger. Sign up for free at their site and install their toolbar on your browser. Choose the topics you’re interested in, and when you press the Stumble button in your toolbar, you’re taken to random site in your topics list. If you like the site, you press the ‘thumbs up’ button on the toolbar; if you don’t, you press the ‘thumbs down’ button. You can also submit other quality sites that haven’t been stumbled yet where they enter circulation for other Stumblers to discover. It works like a user voted playlist.

It’s difficult to find unique and interesting websites among the millions on the net, but StumbleUpon makes quick work of finding the best. I’ve bookmarked hundreds of fantastic sites I never would have found using a search engine. Oddly enough, I’d never thought to submit my own site to StumbleUpon.

My First StumbleUpon Experience

Last week, a submitted a post to Reddit. The results were decent - I got 95 hits in half an hour. I went out and came home and check my traffic a few hours later. Here’s what it looked like:

I received over 1000 hits in a few hours after a Reddit reader submitted my post to StumbleUpon. In the last few days, I’ve been receiving around 500-700 daily from other StumbleUpon submissions. Not bad, considering my blog is only a few months old and until now has only been receiving 30-50 hits each day! Not only was the traffic spike high in quantity, the quality was better too - the number of visitors returning to my blog since that day has increased over 1000%.

Topical news sites like Digg and Reddit are fine if you make the front page, but if you’re interested in increasing your online visibility with consistent daily returns, use StumbleUpon.

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Incorporate “after action reviews” into your life. The military uses these to analyze how an operation went. They ask:

1. What was our objective?
2. What actually happened?
3. Why did it happen?
4. What are we going to do next time?

You can use these same questions to review how things are going in your life. This prevents you from making the same mistakes over and over again, and builds on your successes. You can do more of what worked and less of what didn’t work. So incorporate AAR’s into your life and move your life ahead even faster.

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There are thousands of self development, self-help, psychology, motivational, and spiritual titles on the market today. Only a few rare authors make it to the best-sellers list. Even fewer build a successful, highly trafficked website with a dedicated readership. I can think of only 5 living self-development superstars:

1. Tony Robbins
2. Brian Tracy
3. Wayne Dyer
4. Deepak Chopra
5. Eckhart Tolle

How many high quality, best-selling authors of popular fiction can you name? The list in that category is massive by comparison.

Tony Robbins is heavily criticized for misrepresenting the truth and for his aggressive sales techniques. He was busy marketing products for the perfect marriage while going through a divorce. Deepak Chopra has also been criticized for writing questionable science.

Most self-development authors never achieve the kind of success they write about. They’re trying to teach us methods for success while they’re clearly not very good at it themselves. Where are all the great wisdom teachers?

Living in a Positive Thinking Bubble

Harsh criticism isn’t well accepted with this group. Peers don’t criticize for fear of losing credibility in their field. When someone does speak up and trashes the book or article, the criticism is denounced as being negative. Self-development authors need to be held accountable for the quality of their work just like everyone else. If the quality of my writing isn’t up to par, I have no chance for success by ignoring criticism. If my writing doesn’t sell, am I ahead of my time or living in denial?

You Can’t Sell Your Way Out of a Paper Bag

The most successful people in any field know how to sell their ideas. You must appeal to the customer’s desire for a solution to a problem. A best-selling author isn’t necessarily the best-writing author. You might be an excellent writer, but to reach your audience you must be able to sell your ideas. Take a sales course. Learn to appeal to your audience’s desire for answers and then deliver it to them in an approachable way.

The Field Is Crowded With Snake Oil Salesmen

Authors often sell their opinions as facts. Opinions are fallible; facts can be measured, proven, or demonstrated. How many times have you read titles like “43 Power Laws,” “7 Steps to Incredible Riches,” or “30 Secrets of Successful People?” Get rich quick schemes have damaged the whole genre. Anyone can make up a system of laws and principles for success but do they work? Where’s the proof? If those opinions and advice were factual, why is the author mired in obscurity and living in his parents’ basement?

People Want Progress, Not Perfection

Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, and Mother Theresa all had their bad days. Someone burned their toast or stepped on their foot and they might have reacted with anger. Spiritual teachers and motivational coaches don’t like to talk about this, but every human being has negative thoughts and feelings. To deny one half of our nature is to deny reality. I believe in self-improvement but no one is perfect. People give up on a unrealistic systems that work only half of the time.

Measure Your Own Success Before Teaching It To Others:

* Do you have healthy relationships with your friends, family, and co-workers?
* Are you earning enough to support your needs? Are your finances in order?
* Do you receive positive results from the efforts of work and service? Are your customers happy?
* Are you physically healthy and free from life-draining addictions or habits?
* Are you happy and fulfilled?
* Are you living the life you dream about or only wishing for it to happen?
* Do you have goals and the plans to achieve them? Do you have faith that these goals and plans will succeed?
* Do you sincerely care for the welfare of all living things? Do your actions reflect your beliefs?

I’m writing this because people urgently want answers to their problems. We need real life skills, authentic wisdom, and inspired teachers who lead by example. Are you selling a hard-to-follow set of opinions or is it simple and accessible? People know the truth when they hear it. The truth sells, because it’s simple and it works.

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Change things, or accept things as they are. These are the only two choices you have when something is bothering you. Try to find at least something to change about something that is bothering you, even if you can’t fix the whole thing. Taking action on something gives you a feeling of being in control and boosts your morale, plus puts you on the path to fixing it. If you have to live with the situation, find some things about it that are positive, no matter how hard you have to look, and gradually you will begin to accept it. Whatever you do, the key thing is to do something, rather than just float along aggravated.

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Two men are standing by the shore of a lake.

‘I’ll bet I can swim across this lake to to other side,” the first man says to the other.

“No you can’t! I’ll take you up on that bet,” the second man replied.The first man strips off his clothes, jumps in the lake and begins swimming. After about 20 minutes, he’s nearly to the other side. He gets about 10 feet from the beach, then turns around and swims back.

The first man is amazed and yells across the lake, “What the hell are you doing? You were almost there!”

“I got too tired, so I’m coming back!”

Of course, this joke is ridiculous. Who would give up 10 feet short of their goal when quitting required 10 times the effort? The answer: almost everyone.

Consider the law student who studies for years and pays thousands of dollars to a university, only to give up and fail her bar exam. Consider the blogger who writes faithfully for months, only to quit because there are only 10 visitors coming to his site every day. How about the employee who passes up an expensive training course that would prepare him for a real career once it’s completed. Maybe you think it’s too difficult to save $200 a month to invest in assets that will pay for all your living expenses when you retire.

What Do People Mean By “Don’t Work Hard, Work Smart?”

Pushing hard until you reach your goal is always tough, but the quitting is even tougher. It takes desire, focus, faith, imagination, and effort to be successful. Mediocrity only requires effort, so many people think it’s the easier path. There’s nothing wrong with being average, as long as you’re happy paying your dues with 10 times the effort. Do you want to work hard for low pay all your life? That’s the cost of taking the ‘easier’ path. Working “smart” doesn’t mean it’s effortless - it means you use your mind to achieve greater rewards and better results. Pretty simple, huh?

Great ideas, great riches, and great people are created with focus, desire, faith, and imagination. Nurture these qualities and don’t give up when you’re 10 feet from your goal - it’s a long swim back.

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Don’t confuse having and idea with having a plan. You need an idea first, and that is of key importance. But if you are going to turn your idea into reality it is going to take a plan and of course action on the plan. Many times the idea comes to us easily, in fact it almost hits us over the head. On the other hand, making a plan, takes real work carried out over a period of time, and stopping at any point along the way dooms your idea to an early death. Things like budgets, timetables, contingencies, etc, are not as much fun as having the big idea, so keep thinking of the final outcome your idea will generate and keep working to turn you idea into an action plan. And then do it.

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The Obsession to Drink

First, ask yourself how often in a day you think about alcohol or drinking. Three times? Ten times? More?

Now ask yourself how often in a day you think about black licorice.

Non-alcoholics don’t think about alcohol very often; they don’t think about it at all unless they’re at a social gathering or having the occasional drink to relax after work. If you think about alcohol frequently or your daily plans revolve around where and when you’ll have your next drink, you might have a problem.

Alcoholic Behavior Checklist

Here is a short checklist than can help you spot the warning signs of alcoholic behavior.

* Have you ever missed two consecutive days of work because you were hung over?
* Do you ever drink at work or leave early to drink?
* Have you ever canceled your plans because it would interfere with your drinking?
* Have you ever changed social engagements because you knew that you couldn’t drink there?
* Do you ever ask yourself if you might be an alcoholic?
* Do you feel embarrassed, depressed, lonely, or anxious over your actions after a night of drinking?
* Are all of your close friends heavy drinkers?
* Does your drinking cause arguments and disputes at home with your partner or kids?
* Do you consume more than one or two drinks a day?
* Do you think about drinking often?
* Were your parents heavy drinkers?
* Have you ever been fined or arrested for drinking in public or drinking and driving?
* Do you find it difficult to talk with people unless you’ve been drinking?
* Do you try to have one or two drinks and find it very difficult to stop once you’ve started?
* Do you lie about how much you drink or how much money you spend on drinking to your partner, friends, or family?

If you’ve can answer yes to any one of these questions, I suggest you do some soul-searching and talk to a friend, family member, doctor, or counselor about it. If you can answer yes to many of them, you are at high risk, or are already an alcoholic. You can find help anywhere in the world through Alcoholics Anonymous.

I wish you well - there is a better life waiting, if you sincerely want it to happen.

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Feeling inadequate, depressed, insecure, etc. is terrific, providing it is the competition that feels this way, not you. What can you do right now, to make sure the competition is headed for dial a shrink , while you head to the bank? Do you need to stop doing something that is holding you back? Do you need to start doing something you have been putting off? Take action now and leave that sinking feeling to the competition, while you make it to the top.

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I did a little digging today and much to my surprise, I could find no record of copyright for the word, and idea of ‘God.’ Nor were there any pending patents or registered trademarks using ‘God’ either. Wow, you’d think the church would have figured out the marketing potential years ago!

That’s it. I’m putting everyone on notice - as of today the word and concept of God© and all it’s meanings are now mine. I‘m also claiming Yahweh©, Jehovah©, Theos©, Allah©, Jumala©, Kami©, Gud©, Krishna©, Vishnu©, Shiva©, Ganesha©, Zeus©, King of Kings©, Lord of the Hosts©, the Holy Ghost©, The Man Upstairs©, Oh My God©, God Dammit©, Thank God©, For God’s Sakes!©, God Bless©, God Forbid©, God Help You©, God Willing©, and May God Have Mercy on Your Soul©. I’m sure I’ve forgotten quite a few there, but I’ll make sure the lawyers sew it all up for me in the next few weeks.

You All Owe Me a Gazillion Dollars

I plan on following the lead of the RIAA. What a shining example of how efficiently our legal system can bring the great unwashed masses to their knees. You unenlightened pagans have no right stealing my ideas. If you use my intellectual properties without express written consent (and wads of cold cash), I’m going to sue your asses into oblivion. If you share my IP with others, I’ll take you to court too. By sharing, I mean leaving the word of God out there in the open where others might read it without paying for it. I know ideas are useless unless shared, but I’m going to sue - just because I can.

* By my estimation, the churches of the world owe me trillions. I will easily rake in billions every Sunday and on all the religious holidays - God is Great!© In an effort to stem their losses, churches will be forced underground and set up websites with hip, yet ridiculous, made-up names. Look out for domains like “GodzillaTorrent.com”, “BabbleBible.net,” or “Hellfirewire.org.” (note to self: must register these domain names today!)
* Soul music will become the new cash cow.
* Meters and rootkits will be installed on every copy of the Holy Bible, Koran, and Torah. Monthly subscriptions fees and pay-per-use schemes will be implemented immediately. Hackers who disable or uninstall my devices will be sent directly to hell.
* Buddhists don’t believe in God© so they’ll be of little use to my marketing plans. Until such a time as I can profit from their beliefs, we’ll make every effort to have them marginalized in the media and ostracized by their peers. There’s no such thing as a free ride, people!

Not bad for a day’s work. All I have to do is sit and wait for the cheques to start rolling in while real artists and creators do the dirty work of paying for my next vacation.

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Dealing with distractions is a life skill we all need to master. I’m working on it myself, right now. I have an idea and I want to create a killer article but a car alarm goes off across the street, a good tv show begs for my attention, my cat wants to be fed, and I have to get my laundry done for work tomorrow. I’m distracted and I can’t focus. We’ve all been here, haven’t we? How do some people stay focused and calm while others are mired in multitasking hell - distracted, annoyed, and irritated?

No matter who we are or what we do, there will always be distractions. Even when we are completely removed from outside distractions, our mind is like a crazy monkey, frantically jumping from thought to thought. The outside world is simply a reflection of what’s going on in the inside.

You’re drifting off to sleep and you hear:

* a dripping kitchen faucet.
* ocean waves crashing on the beach.

People love the sound of ocean waves crashing on the beach. It’s relaxing, isn’t it? So why does the quiet little drip in the kitchen drive you insane when you’re trying to sleep?

Expose Your Thoughts With Bare Attention

If you want to begin honing your powers of concentration, the best tool is insight meditation. Insight meditation is also know as Vipassana in the East. Here’s how it works:

* Find a quiet spot to sit or lay down. Close your eyes. Take a few breaths and draw your attention to your thoughts.
* Thought flows fluidly and rapidly from one to the next - it moves like water. I suppose that’s why people call it ‘stream of thought.’ Some are loud and plaintive and some are quiet like whispers. Listen to them all without judging. As they come and go, don’t resist new thoughts or hold on to old ones. Let them flow like a river.
* Pay close attention to your stream of thoughts as if you are watching a movie. You’re mind will wander and suddenly you’ll notice you have no idea where your attention went. It’s normal to lose your attention. When you notice it, just bring it back to your thoughts. It takes practice to maintain attention for any length of time - it develops with time. Gently but firmly bringing your attention back when it drifts away will strengthen your concentration skill better than any other method.

This practice is simple and can be done often throughout the day. I challenge you to try it for one week. It’s a real eye-opener as you learn what really makes you tick.

Vipassana is usually practiced as a formal sitting or walking meditation but I find it most helpful while I’m busy and life is at it’s craziest. Be mindful of what your thoughts are doing. What kind of monologue is going on in there? When I’m trying to focus and getting distracted, why do I want to kick the cat or yell at my loved ones?

Becoming mindful can be peaceful, alarming, and enlightening all at the same time. We all have repetitive patterns of worry, planning, resentment, anger, desire, want, and fear. Allow them to be, just as they are - you don’t have to do anything. If you scrutinize your mental distractions, they become calm and eventually disappear over time. You’re only truly in control of one thing - your mind. If you are in control of your own inner world, there is no distraction you cannot conquer.

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