The airy-fairy self help industry would go belly up tomorrow if everyone knew this
Published: Sun, 01/06/19
— Count Dooku
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
A few years back on one of my podcasts, I took a little flack for preaching the negative thinking gospel as opposed to the usual "just think happy unicorn & rainbow thoughts and you'll 'manifest' everything you want" taught in "The Secret" and other positive-thinking tomes.
Well, guess what?
Take a gander at this response:
(From someone who can't afford to rely on "feel good" theories in his line of work, or he could die...)
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Negative energy, for a lack of better terms, is my primary driving force. It's good to hear someone else that is more successful than I am state that.
I'm active duty military right now. I'm and infantryman. I'm also a bit of a nerd and introverted. Now, in an Infantryman's world, smart is not the best thing, especially if you don't have good social skills from being and introvert. You standard infantryman consist of strong socially confident people that are not afraid to assert themselves in any situation. That's just the way you have to be, and it's why a lot of people don't really make the cut so to speak. Doesn't mean you can't be the nerd, you just have to conform if you want to fit in.
Needless to say, I had a lot of negative energy thrown at me by my leadership. But that is just the way the military is and it's how you get someone to conform. A lot of people don't get that. The concept behind getting yelled at and pushed beyond what you thought you were physically capable of is the point behind the military training concept.
You are forced to learn how to take that negative energy, and harness it to so you can perform at the same level of the group. To put it plainly you have to be capable of walking long distances with weight and shooting a guy in the face; and then after spending hours on the scene of the fight, walk your ass the 5 miles back to base.
As you might imagine, that takes a lot of drive. That drive comes from mostly the fear of not being socially reprimanded by your peers that you have come to respect. You definitely do not do that shit, by "thinking positive".
However, now of days, that's not how things are turning out. Now, as I am older in the military, I am responsible for training new individuals. Which reminds me of your MLM story. Instead of me being allowed to "break them down" and learn how to harness that negative energy into something positive that will help them stay alive. I have to coddle them. Which is why I'm out. That's pretty much bullshit if you ask me. I don't believe in abuse of another person, but I promise you this, the last place you want to learn how to deal negative shit and harness it into laser guided focus to staying alive is when you are already in a War Zone.
I can assure you of one thing. My driver, getting up every day, isn't positive thinking. It's the fear of being a failure, it's the determination to show others where I am at now, that learning how to be successful isn't a fools task. It's the possibility of being able to rub in their face when I do achieve the success I'm looking for.
Sure, I realize that to achieve that I have to be an honest and helpful person. But that "positive energy" isn't what gets me out of bed a 5 am ready to take on the world.
Thanks again for a realistic approach and honesty.
Danny
(NOTE: Last name withheld by request for obvious reasons)
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Many great Super Villains of Persuasion would agree.
Like, for example, Erik Killmonger in “Black Panther”.
And Aldrich Killian in “Ironman 3”.
And Magneto in the “X-Men” movies.
And the Sith Lords in the Star Wars stories.
This idea of converting pain (physical, emotional, or otherwise), anger, and other so-called “negativity” into power was used by the late, great celebrities Johnny Carson and Steve McQueen, too. And, yes, Yours Unruly has used this to great affect, too as any success I've had in business has ultimately been fueled by this.
elBenbo shamelessly takes his inspiration where he can get it…
Anyway, this is the subject of an entire chapter of my “Super Villains of Persuasion” book.
The launch window is ending in a few short hours.
(As of the time this email is being sent)
If you buy it and send your receipt to me by 11:59 pm EST tonight (Sunday, January 6th), I will send you a suite of 30+ invaluable videos about marketing, business, persuasion, etc.
Strike this link down with all your hatred and they’re yours:
http://www.villainsbook.com/super
Ben Settle