If Tony Robbins is issuing a note of business caution...

Tony Robbins

If personal/business development "guru", Tony Robbins, is issuing a note of business caution, then surely we really do need to look at new paradigms of not only business but also for our personal well-being.  As one of the major players in transformation, Tony has dealt with some of the most influential people in the business world (listen to his short anecdote about taking some of them to Dubai).

As someone who has reservations about the "Law of Attraction/The Secret" phenomenon (and Tony has been at least of the fringes of this), I'm pleased and even inspired by this snippet of realism from someone who has an intelligent insight into human behaviour and challenges.

He just asks us to consider some important points and find a way to deal with potential major business failures and its effect on individuals. (A related resource is "Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World")

I'm unable to embed the video in this post so take a trip over to Tony Robbins' own site and take a look. However, I did find this



Comments as always are welcome here

Inspirational Last Lecture Before His Death

Something to aspire to. He holds it together until the very end.

Sometimes when we near certain death, it will drive us to realize most things we take for granted in life. This is just word of thoughts to inspire us.

Below is a shortened version of his full lecture (about 1 hour) found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch (October 23, 1960 -- July 25, 2008) was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pausch learned that he had a terminal case of pancreatic cancer in September 2006. He gave an upbeat lecture entitled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon.

Create you own custom eBook for FREE - Great Wikipedia Resource!

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There's no such thing as failure, only feedback

What's in a name? Well, after a recent personal coaching course attended as another attempt to find my way out the maze, I decided to take on one of the tenets of the coaching world and rename BFA slightly.

So BFA is no longer Business Failures Anonymous but Business Feedback Anonymous.

The techniques and theory of coaching, NLP, Time Lines etc say much to my logical brain and it is the challenge of matching this to the failure, oops, feedback of emotions and finances. I have my reservations about some of the over-positive "attitude is altitude" (see The Secret Secrets of the Secret) but sticks and stones may break bones but names will never hurt... so Business Feedback Anonymous it is.

And in line with the new name, please leave your thoughts and feedback below!

The Secret Secrets of The Secret

Having just attended a personal coaching course, I was enjoying the material presented until the mention of The Secret and The Law of Attraction.

If you have not come across these techniques, belief systems, the basic premises (from The Secret Official website - no, it's not an affiliate link!) are as follows

1. "The Secret reveals the most powerful law in the universe. The knowledge of this law has run like a golden thread through the lives and the teachings of all the prophets, seers, sages and saviors in the world's history, and through the lives of all truly great men and women. All that they have ever accomplished or attained has been done in full accordance with this most powerful law."

2. "The Secret teaches us that we create our lives, with every thought every minute of every day. Living The Secret offers tools and ideas to help you live The Secret and create the life of your dreams.

Now, whilst I do not in principle have a problem with positive thinking (but see Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World), I consider that it has some unspoken and unmentioned principles which I list below in no particular order and which I will expand upon in future posts:

1. It adapts the (generally non-western) teachings of prophets, seers and sages to give credence to (generally western capitalist) goals.
2. When advocates of The Secret quote the sages, for example Ghandi's "Be the change you want to see in the world", in encouraging people to "think big", how many would be prepared to take the stance that Ghandi and his ilk have taken for social causes etc
3. Its principles generally only apply to individual "dreams" based on western capitalism
4. It relies on people being oblivious/unconscious/uncaring to the global consequences of their goals/visualisions - if I have an Apple iPad on my "visionboard", I do not have take into consideration the responsibility I have to the well-documented exploitation of Chinese labour.
5. In general, The Secret pays little attention to ethical, moral or social considerations, being all about the individual's dream, no matter what its global impact may be.
6. Another quote is that "People get the life they deserve and desire". So do advocates of The Secret consider that people living in favelas, ghettos, townships etc have the life they deserve?
7. A major principle is that people have to take responsibility for their actions, past, present and future. But where does this responsility stop - see reference to iPad above.
8. It considers that we live in an abundant universe. Abundant for who? It claims that what you focus on is manifested in reality so who is manifesting global inequalities?
9. In general, it seems to work within this system of inequalities, if not actively promoting them.
10. It is generally focussed on financial wealth, basing much of the ideology on Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich"

Whether I agree or disagree with global inequalities, the focus on financial wealth etc is irrelevant. However, I do consider that the principles of The Secret are at best paradoxical and at worst hypocritical.

Comments, as always, are welcome.

(See wikipedia's Law of Attraction entry for more information and critique)

How to Deal With Depression After Losing a Job (or Business)

It could happen as soon as you hear the words from your boss that you are losing your job. It could happen days or weeks later. But the truth is that sooner or later you might feel the heavy grip of depression upon becoming unemployed-and in this economy, many people are feeling it. It is perfectly normal to feel this way in such a situation. Luckily, there are ways you can cope with the blues-here are some.

Click here to read more