JonathanManske.com

There is a house in our neighborhood that goes all out when it comes to Christmas decorating.  My daughter calls it the Angel House because there is a swaying chorus of angels on the garage roof.  She loves to drive by the Angel House!

Every year they add something new.  This year it was two snowmen on a teeter-tauter.  Last year it was the Ferris wheel.

This year their neighbor added something new, a big sign in their front yard that says “ditto”.

The Angel House has a nativity scene,angel choir, ferris wheel, ski lift, train, bobsled track, santa and sleigh, merry-go-round, santa and sleigh flying in circles around a big barber pole, snowmen on a teeter-tauter, and …

Depending on your point of view, “ditto” might have worked in this situation.  It could be a humorous admission that “I am not trying to keep up with the Joneses”.

However in general, “ditto” is a poor life and business strategy.

You are not a ditto of somebody else.  You are a unique wonderful human being.  Trying to be someone or something you are not does not serve you or the world.  Satisfaction and fulfillment can never be found this way.  This is not the path to true success.ccess.

vI laughed so hard I almost crashed my car the first time I saw that sign.

What I Learned While I Was In Prison

Yesterday at 3 p.m. I got out of prison.

While I was there I learned some things about human beings.

I was invited to speak to a group of 50 prisoners at the Federal                 Correction Institute Englewood who chose to be part of the “Time To   Change” program.

This was the end of a 12-week program where the inmates learned things like: time management, conflict resolution, family relations, motivation, employment and financial stability.  The program is all about teaching the inmates how to usefully use their time inside prison so that they can have a better life when they get out of prison.

I spoke to them about the fact that if they truly want to change their lives and never be inside prison again, they cannot be the same person they were before they entered prison.  That person is the one who got them in prison in the first place.  It is vitally important that they change how they think about themselves and upgrade their self-image.  And, the best time to start making this change is right now.

I got to thinking and realized that you and I share many of the same challenges as these prisoners.

1.  Who we are right now is not the right person to achieve our big goals.  Who we are right now and who we have been is what has gotten us to where we are now.  In order to achieve these goals we will need to change how we think about ourselves and upgrade our self-image.

2.  We are all doing time.  We all have a life sentence.  And, we all have some more time to serve.  The question is: how do we choose to spend that time?  Whether we have decades, years or months left on earth, we get to choose how we are going to spend that time.

Are you merely trying to survive your sentence?  Are you numbly being carried forward by habit and routine?  Or, are you actively exploring your potential, striving to be the best you that you can possibly be?  Or, perhaps you are somewhere in the middle.

3.  We all have areas in our life where we are behind bars.  Our freedom to move forward is blocked.  Instead of forward motion and the desired results and outcomes, we get struggle, frustration, disappointment, and failure.  Life becomes not as fun or enjoyable as it could be.

Even more frustrating is that the only place these bars exist is inside our own heads.  These bars are built from our limiting beliefs, attitudes, expectations, behaviors, thoughts and non-conscious programming.

Nobody wants a life behind bars.  As long as the bars are there we won’t experience the freedom we so desperately desire!

The good news is: these bars are not the truth.  They can be removed and when they are removed we gain freedom.

I invite you to sit down right now and spend a few minutes thinking about the rest of your life sentence.

• What do you want to accomplish?
• How do you want to spend your time?
• How do you want to think and feel about yourself?
• Do you want to survive or do you want to thrive?
• How do you want to be remembered?
• What are some of your iron bars?  And, what are you going to do about them?

Intending great joy and success in all you do!

Jonathan Manske

Time to Re-evaluate the Purpose of Your Business???

What is the purpose of your business (career)?

Take a moment and answer this question before you read on.

If you are like most people, your answer will be along the lines of:

* I get to do what I love.
* Create a lifestyle for myself.
* I make people’s lives better.
* I serve people.
* I take away their pain/ meet clients needs.
* Provide valuable services.
* Help others to succeed.
* etc.

Where does “making money” show up on your list? Or, does it even show up on your list?

For a lot of people, it does not even show up on the list. But if we stop to think about this, the purpose of any business is to make money. Otherwise, it is not a business it is a hobby.

What if we revised our purpose to reflect this.

“The purpose of my business is to make money by helping people to get out of their own way!” (Versus, “The purpose of my business is to help people get out of their own way.”)

This gives me a very different foundation upon which to stand and brings a different energy and focus into my business.

The Law of Attraction in a nutshell says that we get whatever we give our energy, attention and focus to. Modifying the purpose statement gives attention to this very important component “money”.

Now, money in and of itself is not a motivating goal. Lifestyle and fulfillment/contribution goals have way more juice. However, money is usually a very important piece of achieving those other goals.

There is A LOT of head trash around money. Very often people think it is bad to focus on money.

This article is not about making a “god” out of money or making money the be-all end-all because it isn’t. This article is about returning money to its rightful place, a very important component of your business (career).

It does not serve you to under-value money any more than it serves you to over-value money.

Modify your purpose. The purpose of my business (career) is to make money doing the things that provide fulfillment, sense of contribution and satisfaction!

Intending great joy and success in all you do,

Jonathan Manske
Cerebral Sanitation Engineer
“taking out your head trash”

For Goodness Sake ~ Say Something Nice To Yourself

What I am writing about is probably not anything you haven’t heard about before. And, a little reminder can be very useful.

You cannot help but have self-talk. It is part of being a human being. Unfortunately, the vast majority of our self-talk is negative.

This negative self-talk is nothing more than a habit. We have learned how to do this from everyone around us.

The problem with the negative self-talk is that there is a part of us, our non-conscious, that believes everything it hears.

So whether I say to myself, “I am an idiot” or “I am a genius”, there is a part of me that believes this to be true.

Furthermore this then creates certain responses and feelings in me. Obviously one of these will make me feel better than the other.

Now the thing about habits is that they can be changed. What if you got into the habit of saying nice things about yourself? What if you got into the habit of catching the negative self-talk and immediately following it up with some positive self-talk?

Try it for a day! Today make a point of saying nice things to yourself throughout the day. This might feel strange or uncomfortable. Do it any way.

Try these on for starters:

* I am a genius!
* I am wonderful!
* I am a good person!
* I deserve to succeed!
* I am worth $500/ hour!
* I am happy!

When we make a mistake, we tend to follow it up with some negative self-talk. “I forgot to return my library books, now I have a late fee. I am such an idiot!!!”

What if instead you said, “I forgot to return my library books but at least I am an amazing human being.”

This produces a very different experience of you. One that is much more enjoyable and beneficial. Remember, there is a part of you that believes whatever you say.

My friend, Alecia Huck www.maverickandcompany.com, passes out buttons that say, “At least I’M HOT”.

Try that. “I didn’t convert this prospect into a customer but at least I’m hot!”

Take me up on this challenge. Talk nice to yourself today. If you like it, do it again tomorrow. Why not, you are hot and you deserve it!

Intending great joy and success for you,

Jonathan Manske

The Worst They Can Say Is “No”

It is funny how powerful a little two letter word can be.  The word I am talking about is “no”.

So many of us are terrified of hearing that word.

Consequently we strategize and manipulate our lives as much as we can so that we don’t have to risk hearing that word. “If I don’t ask they cannot say no”.

Sometimes when I speak, I’ll ask people to notice what happens to them when I say a certain word to them. Then I say, “no NO! nonononono no no NO! no.”

Typically the response is devastating. Postures droop. Faces look sad. People are looking down. The energy/vitality/aliveness has gone way down. All this from one little two letter word.

If we look at life, it is easy to see how this response got created. Think of all the times you wanted something, had your heart set on something and the authority person said “no”. This hurt and the natural thing is to want to avoid future hurt.

“Come on mom, I know I can jump of the roof using this garbage bag as a parachute. It will be so cool and sooooo much fun. This will be the coolest thing I have ever done.”

Mom, “I said NO! and I mean it.”

And just like that, the great idea, the exciting adventure, lies in pieces at your feet and your heart is broken.

So now as adults we often have this reluctance to ask so that we don’t have to risk hearing “no”.

Here’s two thing though: If we don’t ask, we have already said “NO!” for them. And, the aversion to the word “no” is just some head trash that can be easily changed.

Once we take care of this head trash, you can hear “no” and go, “ok, so what, who’s the next person I should ask”.

My friend Drayton Boylston, Rescue Institute, challenged me the other day to “reach out to offer service to a high level leader that I may have shied away from before”.

I took Drayton up on his challenge. I know someone who is good friends with George Karl, the coach of the Denver Nuggets. I asked her to introduce me to George.

(Any time an athlete is in a slump or is under-performing, they have head trash. So, I know that I can be useful to the Nuggets.)

What’s the worst thing that she could say? If she says “no” then I get to move on to what’s next or try a different approach or . . . If she says anything besides “no” then I have a foot in the door to possibly work with the Nuggets.

As it turns out, she said no. So what!!!! Asking gave me a greater chance of having this happen than not asking ever would have. Now I get to explore other options of getting my foot in the door.

Let me pass on Drayton’s challenge to you: reach out to offer service to a high level leader that you may have shied away from before”.

The very worst that could happen is they say a little two letter word, “no”. If you don’t ask, you have said no for them.

Intending great joy and success for you!

Jonathan Manske

Cerebral Sanitation Engineer

Paying It Forward:  A Charitable Chain Reaction

My friend George Tyler said, “With your Pay it Forward calls twice a month, I thought that you would enjoy this story.  Good deeds do warm the heart.”

Here’s the story George sent me:  http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1158171/index.htm

July 27, 2009
A Charitable Chain Reaction
PHIL TAYLOR

The idea began in church for Ryan Nece, with a pastor’s sermon about the Good Samaritan, but you do not have to be religious to understand what Nece is trying to share-the lightness of heart that comes with helping someone in some way, large or small. Nece, a linebacker who has played at UCLA and for the Buccaneers and the Lions, knows that anyone can get hooked on that feeling, that it is the best kind of addiction, and he just can’t keep it to himself. Sometimes the greatest gift is reminding others how good it feels to give.

That is what led Nece to bring $4,000 in cash to a Tampa restaurant last month. When a pro athlete is carrying that kind of wad, there are a few obvious guesses as to where the evening will lead-to a Vegas blackjack table, perhaps, or a nightclub VIP room with bubbly and bimbos. But the 30-year-old Nece had other plans. He stuffed 70 envelopes with $55 each (55 was his jersey number with Detroit last season) and distributed them among the surprised friends and associates he had invited to the restaurant. The money wasn’t the gift; the instructions that accompanied it were. Use this cash to help someone, he told them, and encourage those you help to do something kind in turn. Make the gifts multiply. Watch goodness grow.

“It’s all based on the belief that a single gesture can be like a seed that develops into something greater,” says Nece, who counts Pay It Forward, based on a similar premise, among his favorite films. “We tend to think that as individuals we can’t make that big a difference, but we can. One act can lead to another and another. We can inspire each other.”

A charitable chain reaction started that night, a campaign that Nece calls the Power of Giving, with the links extending every day, proving that it’s not just flu strains and sex tapes that can go viral. One woman, Nina Lopez, converted part of the $55 into quarters and patrolled downtown Tampa, feeding the parking meters on cars that were about to be ticketed and leaving a note for the owners urging them to perform a kindness for someone else. Another acquaintance, Jason Hulfish, used the money to buy art supplies for his friend Bill Correira, a painter and cancer survivor whose medical bills had put a strain on his finances. In turn, Correira now tapes a Power of Giving envelope with $55 to the back of every painting he sells.

People who weren’t even a part of the program were inspired to acts of generosity just by hearing about it. After a Tampa TV station did a story about Christina Sanchez, a teenager who had received contributions through the Power of Giving to help with her college expenses, a customer picked up his order at the pizza place where Sanchez worked and left her another envelope with $55.

Some of those who have given or received help have written about the experience on Nece’s blog at ryannece.com, the website of the Ryan Nece Foundation, which helps the needy in Tampa and funds college scholarships. “But people have told me three or four times that many stories about what has grown out of this,” he says. “It’s gone further than I ever imagined. Almost every day brings a story of some new way people have found to give.”

It might seem surprising that a little-known, out-of-work linebacker-the 0–16 Lions chose not to re-sign Nece-could inspire such an outpouring of generosity, but his anonymity is part of the appeal. We’re used to celebrity athletes writing a huge check for a worthy cause or calling on famous friends for a charity event, but when a journeyman proves that wealth and fame aren’t essential, when he reminds us that the grand gesture isn’t the only one that has lasting impact, who can ignore that message?

Maybe it’s for the best, then, that Nece has never used the famous last name that he’s always had at his disposal. His father is Ronnie Lott, the Hall of Fame safety and four-time Super Bowl champ, and if you’re wondering why that wasn’t mentioned earlier, it’s because Nece is the kind of guy who prefers that to be the last thing you learn about him, not the first. Lott and Nece’s mother, Cathy, never married, and though he has a close relationship with his father, he uses his mother’s name partly to avoid getting any preferential treatment.

Nece didn’t ask for his father’s help when USC, Lott’s alma mater, chose not to offer him a scholarship coming out of Pacific High in San Bernardino, Calif. He went to archrival UCLA instead and became a four-year starter. He didn’t try to use his dad’s influence to help him find an NFL job when he went undrafted in 2002. He instead made the cut as a free agent in Tampa Bay, where he played for six seasons and again became a starter. He won’t ask for Lott’s intervention now, when he’s trying to keep his career alive. “There’s definitely some interest from some teams,” he says. “I’m very optimistic.”

If he does find a new place to play, there will be lots of grateful people who would be willing to pay Nece’s salary if they could, $55 at a time.

I invite you to join me on my Pay It Forward:  Head Trash Removal Calls every 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 7:00pm Mountain Time.  http://jonathanmanske.com/pay-it-forward-program/

Wishing you great joy and tremendous success!

Jonathan Manske

Title: Pay It Forward Program
Location: Teleseminar
Link out: Click here
Description: Pay It Forward Program

Free Head Trash Removal:

The Pay It Forward Program

I love the “Pay It Forward” concept and I have a solution for a problem that impacts every single person ~ head trash that is in their way of success.

Furthermore, my mission is to make people’s lives and businesses better. When I put these all together, I came up with The Pay It Forward Program!

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Here is how The Pay It Forward Program works:

I conduct Free Head Trash Removal teleseminars on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month at 6:55 - 8:00 pm Mountain Time.

Head trash is the stuff in your head that has you get in your own way and sabotage yourself. Anytime you are experiencing struggle or frustration rather than getting the outcomes you want, you have head trash that is in your way.

Doing all the right things but not getting the results you should ~ head trash.
Know what you should be doing but you aren’t doing it ~ head trash

When your head trash is removed, it frees you up to create different outcomes.

When it comes to head trash removal, I can work with multiple people just as effectively as I can with an individual.

The majority of your head trash is common stuff, shared by many many people e.g.

* I’m not good enough
* It’s not ok to sell
* I am not a business person
* I cannot see myself succeeding
* I don’t deserve
* etcetera

This commonality allows me to work with multiple people at the same time.

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I invite you to join these Free Head Trash Removal teleseminars. Also, please tell your friends.

There is a catch though. Your tuition is to do something nice for someone, something that you weren’t already going to do. In other words, you have to make a little effort here. Pay It Forward.
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Let me know where you are struggling, where you are experiencing frustration. Then, time permitting, we can address that on the call.

RSVP
Contact Jonathan 303.552.7285 or contact me
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Program Details:
When: 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month
Time: 7:00 - 8:00pm Mountain Time
Where: Conference call 219.509.8222 access code 55672
Who: Any one who has head trash
Tuition: Promise to Pay It Forward

Start Time: 6:45
Date: 2009-06-16
End Time: 8:00

Are You Good Enough?

I have yet to meet someone who does not have some version of “I’m not good enough” going on inside their head. It seems to be part of the human experience.

Variations of “I’m not good enough” include: “I’m not okay”, “I’m not enough”, “Something is wrong with me”, “I don’t measure up”, “I’m not as good as”, “I cannot do/be like that” etc.

The majority of our struggles and suffering stem from this poor opinion of ourselves.

This usually shows up one of two ways:

1) We do things in order to prove this opinion wrong. The problem with this is that this self opinion is much deeper than any doing. We can do and do and it does not change the self opinion. Plus, when we do things in order to prove, there is always an underlying anger. This has physical, mental and emotional consequences.

2) We move into resignation and apathy. We don’t even try because we know we are not good enough anyway so why bother.

So, the bad news is that you have this negative self opinion. The good news is that any decrease in the amount of this negative self opinion results in an increase in your quality of life. (Read on to see how to do that).

What If?

These two words ~ “what if” ~ just might be the most powerful words in the English language. “What if” can turn any situation around. These words offer possibility, change and hope. They create curiosity, wonder and space for change.

You can use “what if” every time you catch yourself falling into that habitual negative self opinion. “What if I am good enough?” “What if I am already okay?”

Say these words right now and notice how your body responds. It is very freeing.

“What if” takes away all the strength of the negative self opinion. That is powerful stuff!

Milton Erickson

Milton Erickson is the man who made hypnotherapy famous. He was also an amazing healer. One of the things he was noted for was his use of stories, which through humor, shock, surprise or confusion helped his clients see their situation in a new way. (I highly recommend “My Voice Will Go With You: the teaching tales of Milton H Erickson” by Sidney Rosen).

One day Milton was brought into a prison to work with some of the inmates.

One young man was bad news. He was in prison for violent crimes and he was a problem inmate.

The only thing Milton said to him was, “What if you woke up tomorrow and everything was different.”

The other doctors who were observing Milton thought that this guy was too tough for even Milton.

Shortly thereafter, the young man’s behavior changed. He became a model prisoner and ended up getting released early for good behavior. He got married, had kids and became a productive member of society. All this from one “what if”.

What if?????

How To Overcome Self Sabotage In Sales

The reality is that if you are in business, you are in sales. The better you are at sales, the better your business will go.

Do you want to sell in a way that honors and respects your prospect AND leaves you feeling alive, inspired and good about yourself? If yes, then the How To Overcome Self-Sabotage in Sales teleseminar series is definitely for you.

Is your sales approach more perspiration than inspiration?

· Does the word “sales” fill you with dread?
· Do you think selling is hard or demeaning?
· Do you have a hard time asking for the sale?
· Do you have trouble thinking of yourself as being in sales?
· Have you felt abused by sales people and do not want to do the same?

Answering yes to any of these most likely means that you are working hard and not getting the results you desire. You are in your own way of success.

This program will accelerate your career and catalyze your success – with much less perspiration and more inspiration.

I guarantee that you will be more effective and more comfortable in sales after this program! If you are not 100% satisfied with the program, your tuition will be cheerfully refunded.

With that promise, all you need to do is ask yourself: are you ready to transform your relationship to sales?

To register contact Jonathan Manske at 303.552.7285 or jonathan@jonathanmanske.com

Program details for the How To Overcome Self-Sabotage in Sales program.

What: Three One-hour teleseminars

Dates: Wednesdays April 15, 22 & 29

Time: 6:30 – 7:30pm MST, 8:30 – 9:30pm EST

Location: Teleseminar

Tuition: $79.00

Check Writing Resistance

As you might have noticed, our society is insane around the topic of money right now.

Predictions of gloom and doom are rampant.  Scarcity and lack are the mindset of the day.  Hoarding and imaging worst case scenarios are popular new hobbies.

Here’s a common business owner scenario:  “Okay, I’m not going to spend any money for anything!!! ~ but I sure hope lots of people continue to buy from me.”  Does that seem perhaps a tad bit illogical?

People are forgetting an important universal law ~ “What you focus on is what you get, whether it is what you want or what you do not want.”

Get off the terror train. Just because all the lemmings are running for the edge of the cliff does not mean it is the right thing to do!

Start focusing on what you want.  Stop engaging in talk about how bad business is, about how bad the economy is.  Just stop!

More millionaires were created during the great depression than at any other time in our history.  Opportunities abound right now but you will never see them if you are focused on what is wrong.

OK enough of my rant and back to my topic:

The other day I was talking with a client and he mentioned how reluctant his potential clients were to writing a check.  They were very interested in his service but somehow it was hard to write that check.

It hit me.  Well of course it is hard to write a check these days.  Mass consciousness is squarely stuck in scarcity and fear.  Then I realized that I had check writing reluctance too.  I’d been dragging my feet about paying my bills.  I’d pay them at the last possible moment.  I didn’t want to write that check.  I’d been infected by mass consciousness.

The good news is there is something you can do about this insanity in mass consciousness.  You can create a safe haven where people can step out of the storm for a bit and catch their breath, catch their perspective.

Here’s how you do this:

1)  Both visualize and intend that the person you are interacting with is inside a bubble.  (I make the bubble pink because pink brings in heart energy.  And, if it feels appropriate to use another colour, do so.)
2)  Intend that the surface of the bubble is selective.  It lets in good energy and thoughts and keeps out the negative.
3)  Intend that the negative already inside the bubble is dissolved by the pink light.
4)  That is it!  Now give them space to make their decision.

What you have done there is you have created a buffer, a quiet space where that person can make a decision that is the right one for them without the pressure of mass consciousness.  Whether they buy from you or not, you have given them a valuable gift (a respite from the insanity of mass consciousness).

Although very simple, this technique is very powerful.  I have seen it literally change lives.

Wishing you great joy and success,

Jonathan Manske