After 12 hours on a plane, stepping out into the Texas heat was like being slapped in the face with a hot dry towel. At Customs the guard asked me how old I was. This threw me as I was expecting to be asked my date of birth. I replied “42 – 43” and this was enough for me to be marched away under armed guard and for all my papers to be checked and re-checked.

The subsequent hour’s drive to the course venue actually took me nearly 3 hours as my Satnav had decided to take me on a tour of Austin’s highways.

And yet, just one point of enlightenment on this 3-day marketing course made all the angst and inconvenience worthwhile. My investment of time and money, coupled with the traumatic experience at Customs and the convoluted journey, were all justified for the sake of one special moment.

One idea can change your whole approach to marketing

As you know, I run a training company and I am a firm believer in personal development and the importance investing in yourself. I like to walk my talk instead of mumbling my stumbling, which means I will undertake at least one major training programme/course each year. In addition to this I also spend some 8-10 hours each week learning new things from books, audio and videos.

I took the idea of investing in my education from Jim Rohn (American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, 1930-2009). As an acknowledged wordsmith, he is widely quoted. In relation to personal growth, he once said “Don’t join an easy crowd. You won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform and achieve are high”.

Different thoughts lead to different results

Jim Rohn also said “If you always do the same thing and expect to get different results, then you are crazy.”  He remarked that this can also apply to your thinking, “If you always think the same thoughts and expect your life to change, you are crazy”.

Learn something new before bedtime

We are at a point in history where we have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips. Your mobile phone can do so much more than play games like ‘Angry Birds’.

To stimulate your thinking, here is an experiment for you to follow for 30 days.

Decide to learn one new thing. It can be about any subject and this should be studied over a 30-day period. If you have not learnt anything new about the subject by bedtime each day, then you cannot go to bed.

Once that experiment is complete, then start a new project. This could be writing a book, devising an audio program, designing a new manufacturing process, developing a dance or creating a business. This time, notice how ideas naturally start to flow and these fresh, new creative ideas and thoughts may just change your life.

Thoughts, thinking, ideas, beliefs, actions and life

Our best ideas are those that flow naturally and effortlessly into our lives. You may notice that we have individual thoughts that lead to greater thinking. The suggestion that “Maybe I could work for myself” is an idea that can lead to another connected thought “What would I need to make happen to work for myself?” You can therefore see that just one new thought can create a chain reaction and a steady momentum of further new ideas.

These continue to grow exponentially until suddenly there is the realisation that “I really would like to work for myself.” You start to believe that you are ready to work for yourself and be your own boss. The magic happens when you then take action based on this idea. You register your new business name and before you know it life has changed.

“Oh, the thinks you can think” Dr Seuss

New ideas are dangerous in the right hands.

When you are learning life seems interesting

During that course in Austin, Texas I had one idea that made the entire trip worthwhile. It was an idea that changed my fundamental approach to marketing. Roy H. Williams (best-selling author, marketing consultant best known for his Wizard of Ads trilogy and founder of the Wizard Academy institute) said:

“If you are trying to tell the world who you are and you don’t know who you are. Then you’re an idiot”

Next Step:

When you sign up to take the NLP Practitioner training with us, you will have access to a wealth of resources held on the Training Excellence online site. Apart from the extensive range of material to support you throughout your NLP training, there is also a specific section on marketing if you are just crazy enough to want to start your own business.  Click here to book your place now