EXACTLY HOW MANY TIMES DID EDISON FAIL? Find Out for Yourself

Countless motivational speakers and success coaches over the years have retold the story of one of the greatest failures in American history, Thomas Alva Edison. They have shared the tale revealing how this luminary, the gentleman responsible for bringing the modern light bulb to market, for organizing the first electric utility company to make that bulb glow,  and for innumerable inventions, actually failed lots and lots of times before perfecting his innovations.
This story has been summoned to prove that persistence is a great virtue, that it may even be “omnipotent” in delivering success to us, as Calvin Coolidge pointed out.
Personally, I’ve been uplifted by this reference, and I have used Edison’s example, myself, in countless seminars and classes. But recently, I was watching the movie, National Treasure, when Nicholas Cage's character started lecturing about how Edison failed to perfect the incandescent light bulb.

He said the inventor failed "2,000 times." For the first time, the story didn’t ring true.
"What was that? How many times did Cage say?" I found myself querying the screen.
"2,000?"
I decided to Google the question, to determine whether there is an authoritative statistic, and you can too. It's fun, and yes, it is even illuminating, because you'll find lots of variations of that statistic. Within five minutes, my search revealed that Edison failed EXACTLY:
"1,000 times," "2,998 times," "3,000 times," "5,000 times," "6,000 times," and "6,635 times"!
I stopped right there, knowing I was going to find, in all probability, 1,000 more permutations, each claiming to be THE accurate statistic.
One smart source, discussing writing and rejection, simply said Edison failed a lot and urged her readers to "Look it up for yourself!"
Maybe she had discovered what I did, that there are a zillion misleading stats out there.
And this brings me to my point.
Don't believe people when they throw one of these supposed "facts" at you. Put their feet to the fire, and make them back up these blustery assertions. Be especially vigilant to dispute stats that are negative, that douse your fire to succeed, to risk, to undertake something new and unprecedented.
For example, before launching new businesses, many otherwise eager folks have been cautioned that 90% of all start-ups will fail within three years.
But wait a minute. You know this stat is hopelessly flawed from the get-go because there are countless start-ups that aren’t tracked by official sources.
Lots of people, for instance, start landscaping businesses, without training or licenses. They don’t alert Silicon Valley venture capitalists that they’ll need first-stage funding or apply for Small Business Administration loans.
With only a trusty lawnmower, edger, and shears, they knock on doors, hoping to develop a clientele. Some can’t overcome the reply, “But we have a gardener,” and they quit the business in a matter of hours, days, or weeks.
Others tough it out and succeed, trimming their way to tidy profits.

No matter your personal and professional dreams, it starts with communication.

Who is tracking these start-ups, the Office of Management & Budget in the nation’s capital?
Starting a restaurant is said to be the riskiest new business venture, because so many fail.
If every great chef believed the discouraging stats saying he or she was doomed, no chef would ever open his or her doors. We’d all be stuck brown-bagging it and wincing through every bite of yet another cardboard airline “meal.” Because a business fails to earn a profit doesn’t mean it failed or its proprietor is a failure.
People strike out on their own for lots of good reasons, and profitability is merely one of them. A major motive is to feel independent, self-reliant.
For the persistent soul who actually earned the gold watch from the huge corporation, suddenly doing everything by herself and for herself in a new business can be exhilarating. That could be worth all of the sweat and tears.
Plus, it may be in the cards to have one or two losing ventures before you learn how to do it better. Maybe those failures are just parts one and two of a three-part drama, necessary precursors to inevitable victory, yet they're reported as miscues.
When I started my own independent consulting business more than 20 years ago, I never knew how unlikely my success was, and I'm really happy no one told me!


I recall a great experience being on the team that delivered the largest civilian U.S. Navy management-training program in history. We trained 18,000 senior managers in 18 months. One of my assignments was to work with scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
Some of them remarked that typical management-by-objectives programs weren’t a good fit for scientists because “For us, failure is success.” They explained that non-results or negative results from controlled experiments are exceedingly useful because they establish what isn’t going to work.
Statistics pertaining to failure rates are often misleading in other contexts. Babe Ruth was at the same time the home-run king and the fellow who struck out more than anyone else in the majors.
How can that be? Well, the simplest explanation is that you have to swing the bat many times to hit the most homers, and swinging the bat many times also brings many strikeouts.
So, the very thing that causes your success contributes to your failure. One statistic alone, even if accurate, doesn’t tell the entire story.
Apart from invention and entrepreneurship, it is all too easy to be daunted by statistics in our personal and family lives.
In an exchange of email with an old pal, we discussed how some folks are delaying parenting until they’re in their 40s and 50s. He said, “Well, I thought of having kids, but then I saw the statistics.”
He meant the chances for having a baby with birth defects, which of course, is a serious matter. But what he didn’t come across is a disconfirming research finding that the odds, at his age, of siring a less healthy child were approximately ONE PERCENT higher. I didn’t tell him because I realized that he saw some headline, got scared, and his mind snapped shut.
Just yesterday, I happened upon a book that discusses risk taking, and the author confirmed that most of us overreact to statistics regarding possibilities for failure.
Worse than misinterpreting or having incomplete statistics is the widespread tendency to simply give them far too much weight. We cede to them the power to curb our goals and to intimidate us, and the authority to rationalize retreat.
I was awarded a Black Belt in Chinese Kenpo Karate after eight years of dedicated study and work. I was only the 20th Black Belt promoted by our dojo since its founding, in 1974. I’ll put that into perspective for you.
Over those eight years, the Sensei was fond of telling students as we lined up for class, “Do you know how many thousands of people have stepped onto this mat and have come and gone, but you’re still here?” It’s a statistic that most of my sparring partners found daunting, so much so, that they packed it in and quit before reaching the highest levels. “Gee, it must be ten thousand to one that I’ll reach Black Belt,” they probably calculated.
They interpreted the statistic in exactly the opposite way that the Sensei had intended. He was actually complimenting them on their grit and persistence. He said they had staying power, and they thought they were being shown the door.
Statistics can never intimidate us unless we allow ourselves to become manipulated by them. I saw the Sensei’s message for what it was, that it was proof that I would be one of the exceptions to the rule, that in the end, I would prevail.
Remember that scene in the original Star Wars movie when Han Solo is about to launch hyper-drive to evade Imperial captors? A sidekick says, “Do you know the odds of getting away?” and Solo snaps back defiantly, “Never tell me the odds!” That’s as good a mantra as any, if you aim to be successful.
For every statistic, apart from death and taxes, there are exceptions. You might say exceptions are reserved for exceptional people.
Boldly become one of them. Whenever you hear the odds are stacked against you, remember that uplifting statistic offered by General Stonewall Jackson: “One courageous man makes a majority!” 

By Dr. Gary S. Goodman

The Farmer and the Preacher

There’s a classic old story about a conversation between a farmer and a preacher. The story goes that the preacher was driving down a country road when he  came upon the most beautiful farm he’d ever seen in his lifetime spent traveling rural roads. He could only compare it to a beautiful painting. It was by no means a new farm, but the house and buildings were well constructed and in perfect repair and paint. A garden around the house was filled with flowers and shrubs. A fine row of trees lined each side of the white gravel drive. The fields were beautifully tilled, and a fine herd of fat dairy cattle grazed knee-deep in the pasture. The site was so arresting the preacher stopped to drink it all in. He had been raised on a farm himself, and he knew a great one when he saw it.
It was then he noticed the farmer, on a tractor, hard at work, approaching the place where the preacher stood beside his car. When the farmer got closer, the preacher hailed him. The farmer stopped the tractor, idled down the engine, and then shouted a friendly “hello!” The preacher said to him, “My good man, God has certainly blessed you with a magnificent farm.” And then, there was a pause as the farmer took off his cape and shifted in the tractor seat to take a look at his pride and joy. He then looked at the preacher and he said, “Yes, He has, and we’re grateful. But you should have seen this place when He had it all to Himself.”
Well, the preacher looked at the strong, friendly features of the farmer for a moment, smiled, and with a wave of his hand climbed back in his car and continued on his way. And he thought, that man has given me my sermon for next Sunday.
Every farmer along this road and in this country has been blessed with the same land, pretty much, and the same opportunity. Each has worked his farm according to his nature. Every farm, every home of every family in the country is the living reflection of the people who dwell in it. He understood that the land we’re given was not the acres we buy for our farm or the lot on which we build or buy a home, but rather the life we give it, what we do with what we have. Our lives are our plots of ground, and that’s the land we sow and from which we are then obliged to reap the resulting harvest. And the way we’ve sown will be reflected in every department of our lives.


Well, the farmer that the preacher had just talked to would reap an abundant harvest, not just when the time came for gathering his crops, but every time he looked around the place, every time he returned from town to that white gravel drive and trees that lined it and the fine home and gardens that stood at the end of it. He was grateful for what he had. But he knew that it was not what is given us that makes the difference, but rather what we do with it, what we make of what we have. Yes, sir, the preacher thought as he smiled and drove his car along the road to town. He had his sermon for next Sunday, and it would be a good one.
Each one of us is a farmer. Our lives are the plots of ground that have been given to us free and clear. If we’re wise, we too, will reap the abundant harvest, for the planting is left strictly to us. 


Three Valuable Words
I was once interviewed by a man and his wife who were writing a book about well-known people who’ve overcome problems of various kinds in order to further their lives. I mentioned to him that everyone must overcome problems of various degrees and that people who are more or less in the public’s eye aren’t any more courageous than other people we may never hear about. In fact, the story of every life is a story of obstacles overcome.
But they wanted my story, so I told them of three words that had have been of incalculable help to me in reaching various goals. Whenever I became depressed and things seemed rather hopeless, I would always say to myself, “Stay with it.” “Stay with it” kept me going many times when it seemed the better part of valor to quit and settle for smaller goals. And it’s nothing more than persistence. To me, a personal reminder is always that persistence can accomplish almost anything.
The habit of persistence soon becomes the habit of winning. Every successful person’s story is the story of persistence, of “staying with it” day after day despite the problems and setbacks and mistakes and disappointments that seem to test our resolve from time to time. The power of a person’s persistence seems to be determined by the strength of his or her goal. We read and hear about people who sail around the world in a 30-foot sailboat and overcome handicaps to win a gold medal at the Olympic games, and sooner or later, we find their stories about persistence, of simply staying with it one day at a time.
I remember well the day that I sat down to write the first of my radio programs. That was more than 20 years ago. That was 5,200 programs ago, with about 700 words to the program; that’s 3,640,000 words ago. Or the equivalent of 36 full-size books ago. Now that’s certainly no world’s record, but a good example of what persistence can do all the same. I can recall that my friend Lowell Thomas’s study was completely lined with the bound copies of his broadcasts.
When we see the tired faces of commuters on the big city subway and children climbing aboard the school bus, we see persistence at work. We see it in the expression of the wife and mother doing her grocery shopping or the week’s laundry or preparing another meal. But everything we do contributes to the life we lead, the joys we experience, the satisfactions we realize from time to time, and persistence itself is a joy when we’re doing what we enjoy and want to do. But there are times when we need to remind ourselves: “Stay with it”. This is what I’ve chosen of my own free will to do, and so I’ll do it to the very best of my ability come what may.
So in the interview, it all seemed to come down to making up one’s mind about what one wants to do and then starting toward it and doing it every day, day after day, month after month, until one day you’ve got what you’ve set out to get, for good or bad, and it’s time to decide on another goal and head out on the new course. It all seems to be a matter of just staying with it. It’s not a very complicated success formula, is it? Just make up your mind what it is you want very much to have or to do, and get started. And when the going gets very tough, and it’s a bad, bad day, and you feel like giving up, you say to yourself, “Stay with it.”
Stay with it. 

MOST READ BOOKS FOR 2013

The Weekend Millionaire’s Real Estate Investing Program
by Roger Dawson and Mike Summey


The Power of Purpose
by Les Brown

Mentored by a Millionaire
by Steven K. Scott

24 Techniques for Closing the Sale
by Brian Tracy


Lessons from the Richest Man Who Ever Lived
by Steven K. Scott

SynchroDestiny
by Dr. Deepak Chopra


Mentally Fit Forever
by Lee Pulos, Ph.D.

The Aladdin Factor
by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen


The Power to Shape Your Destiny
by Anthony Robbins

The Maverick Mindset
by Dr. John Eliot

The New Psychology of Achievement
by Brian Tracy

Piranha Marketing
by Joe Polish with Tim Paulson

The Power of Positive Thinking
by Norman Vincent Peale

Your Secret Wealth
by Jay Abraham

Get Out of Your Own Way!
by Larry Winget

Sell Your Way to the Top
by Zig Ziglar

Dreams Don’t Have Deadlines
by Mark Victor Hansen

The Secrets of Power Negotiating
by Roger Dawson

Fully Alive, Fully Human
by Ed Foreman

GOALS
by Zig Ziglar

Cultivating an Unshakable Character
by Jim Rohn

The Transforming Debt to Wealth System
by John Cummuta

A View from the TOP
by Zig Ziglar

Success Strategies for the Crazy Busy
by Edward (Ned) Hallowell, M.D.

ACTION IS EVERYTHING

The world belongs to those who reach out and grab opportunity with both hands. It belongs to those who do something more than wish and hope and plan, intending to do something someday, when all conditions seem just right. It belongs to those who get out there and take action. We've all heard the expression "Knowledge is Power", but what I think is even more profound is "The Implementation of that Knowledge is Power".

Successful people are not necessarily those who make the right decisions all the time. No one can do that, no matter how smart he or she is. But once successful people have made a decision, they begin moving step-by-step toward their objectives, and they begin to get feedback or signals to tell them when they're on course and when course corrections are necessary. As they take action and move toward their goals, they continually get new information that enables them to adjust their plans in large and small ways.
It's important to understand that life is a series of approximations and course adjustments. Let me explain. When an airplane leaves Chicago for Los Angeles, it is off course 99 percent of the time. This is normal and natural and to be expected. The pilot makes continual course corrections, a little to the north, a little to the south. The pilot continually adjusts altitude and throttle. And sure enough, several hours later, the plane touches down at exactly the time predicted when it first became airborne upon leaving Chicago. The entire journey has been a process or approximations and course adjustments.

Of course, there are no guarantees in life. Everything you do — even driving to work — is filled with uncertainty. You can never be completely sure that any action or behavior is going to bring about your desired result. There is always a risk. And where there is risk, there is fear. And whatever you think about grows in your mind and heart. People who think continually about the risks involved in any undertaking soon become preoccupied with fears and doubts and anxieties that conspire to hold them back from trying in the first place.

At Babson College, a 12-year study was conducted to discover the reasons for success. The researchers concluded that the difference between the successes and the failures in their study could be summarized by one word: launch! Successful people were willing to launch themselves down the track of opportunity without any guarantee of success. They were willing to risk uncertainty and overcome the normal fears and doubts that hold the majority in place.

And the remarkable thing is that as you take risks in life, new opportunities emerge all around you. However, you would not have seen those opportunities if you had not taken action. They would not have materialized for you if you had waited for some assurance of the outcome before acting.
The Confucian saying "A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step" simply means that great accomplishments begin with your willingness to face the inevitable uncertainty of any new enterprise and step out boldly in the direction of your goal. If you want to be more successful faster, just do more things. Take more action; get busier. Start a little earlier; work a little harder; stay a little later. Put the odds in your favor. According to the law of probability, the more things you try, the more likely it is that you will try the one thing that will make all the difference.

I've found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.

Tom Peters, the author of the classic bestseller In Search of Excellence found that a key quality of the top executives was a "bias for action." Their motto seemed to be "Ready, fire, aim!" Their attitude toward business was summarized in the words "Do it, fix it, try it." They realized that the future belongs to the action-oriented, to the risk taker.

Successful people know, as General Douglas MacArthur once said, "There is no security on this earth. There is only opportunity." And the interesting thing is this: If you seek opportunity, you'll end up with all the security you need. However, if you seek security, you'll end up with neither opportunity nor security. The proof of this is all around us, in the downsizing and reconstructing of corporations, where thousands of men and women who sought security are finding themselves unemployed for long periods of time.

There is a "momentum principle" of success, which is derived from two physical laws, the law of momentum and the law of inertia, and it applies equally well to everything that you accomplish and fail to accomplish.

In physics, the law of momentum says that a body in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. The law of inertia, on the other hand, says that a body at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.

In their simplest terms, as they apply to you and your life, those laws say that if you stay in motion toward something that is important to you, it's much easier to continue making progress than it is if you stop somewhere along the way and have to start again. Successful people are very much like the plate spinners in the circus. They get things spinning, knowing that if a plate falls off, or something comes to a halt, it's much harder to get it restarted than it is to keep it going.

Once you have a goal and a plan, get going! And once you start moving toward your goal, don't stop. Do something every day to move yourself closer toward your goal. Don't let the size of the goal or the amount of time required to accomplish it hold you back. During your planning process, break down the goal into small tasks and activities that you can engage in every day. Every day, every week, every month you should be making progress by completing your predetermined tasks and activities in the direction of your clearly defined objective.

And here's where the rubber meets the road. One of the most important single qualities for success is self-discipline. It's the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.

Let me break down that definition of self-discipline. First, "the ability to make yourself." This means that you have to use strength and willpower to force yourself into motion, to overcome the power of inertia that holds you back. Second, "do what you should do when you should do it."

This means that you make a plan, set a schedule, and then do what you say you'll do. Do it when you say you'll do it. Keep your promises to yourself and to others. The third part of this definition is: "whether you feel like it or not." You see, anyone can do anything if he feels like it, if he wants to do it because it makes him happy, if he is well-rested and has lots of time. However, the true test of character is when you do something that you know you must do whether you feel like it or not — especially when you don't like doing it at all.

In fact, you can tell how badly you really want something, and what you're really made of as a person, by how capable you are of taking action in the direction of your goals and dreams even when you feel tired and discouraged and disappointed and you don't seem to be making any progress. And very often, this is the exact time when you will break through to great achievement. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "When the night is darkest, the stars come out."

Your ability to endure, to continue taking action, step by step, in the direction of your dreams, is what will ultimately assure your success. Keep at it!

NDU POST JAMB IS OUT

PUME 2012/2013 EXERCISE

2012/2013 PUME SCREENING EXERCISE

(1ST) CHOICE CANDIDATES ONLY

This is to inform the general public that the Post-UtME Screening Exercise of the Niger Delta University for the 2012/2013 session will take places as indicated below:

1. ELIGIBILITY

· Candidates who chose Niger Delta University as first choice ONLY the PUME screening exercise for second choice candidates may come later;

· Minimum UME score for all candidates is 180.

2. REGISTRATION

Registration is online on our website at www.ndu.edu.ng or at www.ndu.ac starting from 25th May, 2012 to 9th June 2012.

The Registration Process is as Follows:

i. Go to any Diamond, Skye,UBA, ECO and Trans Atlantic Mortgage Bank branch in Yenagoa or any Diamond or Skye Bank branch in Nigeria along                                               with your UTME Registration slip.

ii. Purchase an e-pin slip for Niger Delta University Post-UTME screening for a fee of 2,000 Naira( two thousand Naira). The University cannot subsidize                                 other charges  such as Bank charges.

iii. Go online and log onto www.ndu.edu.ng and link the site www.ndu.ac or go directly to www.ndu.ac , and click on ‘Apply for Post-UTME                                                     screening exercise ’.     Complete the online application for Post-UTME screening.

iv. The Passport photograph- the passport photograph will be captured by using a web camera available on the computer you are using for the                                                     online registration.       You do not need to scan a photograph and upload for the registration. Applicants must ensure that the computer                                   they are using has a web camera.

v. Print out the generated Acknowledgment Letter and your Application form. Your seat number for the screening exercise will be indicated on the form.                                You must bring these (acknowledgment letter and Application form)a along to the screening venue. Candidates are advised to make                                                 photocopies of the Acknowledgment Letter and the Application form. Candidates without the Acknowledgement Letter and Application                                           form will not be allowed to do the Post-UTME screening exercise.

vi. Notification for Post-UTME exercise

You will receive a notification through SMS via telephone and by e-mail indicating whether or not you are qualified to do the screening exercise.                                 The dates for your screening exercise will also be available on our web site www.ndu.edu.ng

NOTE

1. Your application will not be successful if:

• your UTME score is less than 180
• the appropriate e-pin was not used
• If you enter a State of origin different from the one indicated on your JAMB Registration Form.
• Note that the screening exercise starts from your buying of the pin.

2. Always check your e-mail box for mails.

3. IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS

READ AND FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY

i. Passport Photograph – scanned photographs will not be accepted by the online registration system. Ensure that the computer you are using has a                                              web camera which will take your passport photograph.

ii. Use the same name as you used in your UTME.

iii. Submit two valid e-mail addresses and phone numbers in your

registration form. (Niger Delta University will not be held responsible if you use invalid e-mail and Telephone numbers)

4. SCHEDULE OF SCREENING EXERCISE

NOTICE OF SPECIFIC DAYS AND LIST OF HALLS OF SCREENING WILL BE PLACED ON THE UNIVERSITY WEBSITE FROM 28^TH OF MAY, 2012 AND AT                                                               THE UNIVERSITY  GATE ON THE DATE OF SCREENING. PLEASE CHECK FOR YOUR HALL USING YOUR SEAT NUMBER.

DATE, TIME AND VENUE OF SCREENING EXCERCISE WILL BE POSTED ONLINE ON OUR WEBSITE www.ndu.edu.ng

The Screening process is time consuming, given the fact that it involves Biometric techniques such as finger printing, late comers will not be screened.                                                           Those resident outside Yenagoa/Wilberforce Island are advised to come a day earlier. The University is not responsible for accommodating any candidate.

A. BRING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS FOR THE SCREENING

• HB pencils and erasers. No biros or pens will be allowed.
• Acknowledgement Letter and Application form.

CAUTION!

B. DO NOT BRING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS INTO THE SCREENING HALL

• Mathematical tables
• Calculators
• GSM phones (will be confiscated. The Niger Delta University will not be liable)

5. DISQUALIFICATION

CANDIDATES WHO MAKE FALSE DECLARATION OF UTME SCORES AND ORDINARY LEVEL GRADES ( SSCE, GCE, NECO AND THEIR EQUIVALENT),                                                    AS WELL AS STATE OF ORIGIN SHALL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR ADMISSION

6. MODE OF DRESS DURING SCREENING

Decent Dressing

SCHEDULE OF 2012 PUTME SCREENING EXERCISE

DAY 1 WEDNESDAY 13TH OF JUNE , 2012	LAW (morning) 7am to 11am SCIENCE and NURSING, (Afternoon) 2pm – 6pm
DAY 2 THURSDAY 14TH OF JUNE ,2012	MEDICINE, MED.LAB SCI., PHARMACY(Morning) 7am to 11am ARTS ,EDUCATION and AGRIC TECH. (Afternoon) 2pm – 6pm
DAY 3 FRIDAY 15TH OF JUNE, 2012	MANAGEMENT SCIENCE – BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING) , OFFICE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY (Morning) 7am to 11am MANAGEMENT SCIENCE – ACCOUNTING, INSURANCE, BANKING AND FINANCE (Afternoon) 2pm to 6pm.
DAY 4 SATURDAY 16TH OF JUNE, 2012	SOCIAL SCIENCE (Morning) 7am to 11am ENGINEERING (Afternoon) 2pm to 6pm

ALL CANDIDATES ARE REQUESTED TO BE AT THE SCREENING VENUE AS FOLLOWS

7AM FOR THE MORNING SESSION

2PM FOR THE AFTERNOON SESSION

CHECK FOR YOUR SEAT NOS AND SPECIFIC VENUE OF YOUR SCREENING EXERCISE ON OUR WEB SITE, www.ndu.edu.ng ,                                                                                          THEY WILL ALSO BE PLACED AT THE

GATE OF THE GLORY LAND CAMPUS BEFORE THE EXAMINATION DATE

SIGNED

TONBRA MORRIS-ODUBO

REGISTRAR

Know How You Learning

In my research, I have discovered that there are six easy ways to access the genius mind. Number one, create quiet time, time to listen, time to observe, time to dream. Two, look at your learning or any area of life from different viewpoints. Pretend you are a friend of yourself; how would you see it? Or pretend that you are a tree. How would you see it? Observe. Number three, ask questions. Number four, pay attention to details, for it is details that make the whole. Number five, do things differently. And number six, take time to listen.

For to listen is to hear the singing of the birds, the wind running, dancing, skipping through the trees. It is to hear what people are really saying. It is to be in tune with universal knowledge, receiving each answer as we ask each question. It is all there, if we listen. But in order to listen, we need to still our conscious mind and tune in. Refine our mind so that we may pick up finer and finer frequencies.

The truths of life are given to those who know how to listen, for only the listeners have stilled their ego enough to turn it off and put their attention elsewhere, acknow1edging that they do not know all but that they need to listen in order to learn more.

Let’s consider that there are different learning styles. “Know thyself” was taught by Socrates and is always in order for anyone wishing to learn easily, grow more, and develop his or her potential. Knowing our learning style is invaluable, for it helps us to identify quickly what we may need to do in order to learn and remember the material at hand easily.

There are tests available to help identify our learning styles. These are great, for they help give us ideas about ourselves and see things about ourselves. They help us to know more about how we learn. But they can also be limiting if we accept that we only have a certain type of learning style and do not move beyond that. It is not the tests that are limiting, but people boxing themselves in and saying, “I’m that type of learner,” without any further attempt at expanding.

Most people are a combination of styles, different styles for different areas of life. To expand our potential, we can choose to work with a way of learning or thinking that is normally not our first preference. My first mode of learning was visual, linear, whole picture, and multiple tasks. Auditory was my last mode of learning. I always wished the material put on tapes would be in a book so I could access it easier. Yet, I wanted to learn what was on the tapes, so I continued listening to tapes. Plus, I continued using auditory in my own music learning techniques. I have felt my auditory growing, but just a week ago I became aware that I was looking forward to listening to tapes, that tapes were becoming their own books, in my mind. I realized that my auditory had expanded to a new level.

To go into great detail about all the different styles of learning is beyond the scope of this article, but asking questions of ourselves will help us understand our preferences. Here are some of the questions: Am I devoted to getting facts? Do I figure things out logically? Am I more involved in answers and actions than in questions and theories? Am I sensitive to moods, atmospheres, and attitudes? Do I have a strong interest in people and communication? Do I prefer to work alone? Do I prefer to picture things rather than verbalizing them? Do I thrive on tension and chaos? Do I enjoy many possibilities?

Am I strong on procedure and order? Do I need to see the whole picture first, or can I immediately begin with the details? Do I need structure, or do I learn easily in unstructured situations? Do I skim-read several books on the topic, or do I start one book and read it thoroughly? Can I handle many books at a time? Is visual my first choice of learning? Is auditory my first choice? Is kinesthetic, the hands-on approach, my first choice? Do I need to write, make graphs and tables, or can I picture it in another fashion?

We may want to have a name for our learning style, but if we listen and write down what we prefer first, we discover that our learning style is usually clamoring to be used. For example, “I just have to feel it. I don’t get it until I do.” “Wait! I have to write that down.” “No, I have to see the big picture first.” What we need to do is listen, observe, and write down what we feel, and our style will start to come into focus.

Consider these questions and you will begin to understand the type of learning that suits you best.

HCA Focusing Formular

Highly concentrated attention is exactly what it says it is: It’s a highly focused, deeply intensive mental state of attention. It’s like the state you see your children go into when they are playing video games. It’s also highly explosive. It gives your personal productivity an instant kick. Highly concentrated attention is a powerful productivity thruster.

Highly concentrated attention is high-powered thinking that produces high-powered results. When your brain is in highly concentrated attention mode, or HCA for short, you can blow past obstacles and cut through a task with razor-beam precision. When you concentrate, your personal productivity elevates rapidly. You can accomplish twice as much in the same amount of time or accomplish the same amount in half the time, or a combination of the two. Either way, you can’t go wrong. There are no negative side effects of HCA, no supreme price to pay. Highly concentrated attention is available to you any time you desire it, just for the asking.

Highly productive people use HCA often. It’s one of the secrets of their success. You can learn to do the same. You can know exactly how to kick your brain into highly concentrated attention whenever you like. And here’s what’s going to happen to you as a result.

First, you’ll get great ideas and solutions. The two basic tools of productivity, the hammer and screwdriver of accomplishment, are ideas and solutions. Ideas that enable you to exploit opportunities, and solutions that enable you to get past obstacles. When you’re in HCA mode, you’re going to think of good ideas and solutions; they’ll just come to you. Not only will you have more tools than ever before, and thereby accomplish more, but you’ll dazzle others who marvel at your resourcefulness.

Secondly, you’ll have more free time. Since you’ll be accomplishing in less time, you’ll have time remaining for other enjoyable activities. It’s like creating extra time in each day.

Thirdly, you’ll treat yourself to one of life’s natural pleasures. The brainpower you devote to highly concentrated attention is not exhausting; it’s exhilarating, invigorating, refreshing. It’s the mental equivalent of a physical workout, beneficial and pleasurable all the way.

Fourthly, you’ll advance your career. Most people don’t concentrate very often. Most people are moderately productive, turning in average performances. But as you spend regular amounts of time in HCA mode, your productivity will surpass that of others. Before long you’ll look like a miracle worker. Whom do you think the company’s going to promote?

These four benefits, thinking of ideas and solutions, more free time, exhilarating mental workout, and career advancement all result from your use of highly concentrated attention. HCA mode is the mental equivalent of physical exercise. Just as the human body is designed to engage in limited amounts of physical exertion, the brain is designed to engage in limited amounts of mental exertion.

People who engage in either physical or mental exertion regularly do so because their brain has discovered the exertion turns out to be enjoyable. When you engage in HCA regularly, you’re retraining your brain to like it. You’re developing a taste for it. That’s why there are two extremes, the people who physically or mentally exert themselves regularly, who have trained their brains to enjoy it, even crave it, and the people who avoid any physical or mental exertion, who have never gotten past their brain’s initial resistance to it.

When you first try to concentrate on something, you may find your attention wandering. You may find yourself gravitating toward other less mentally taxing activities. That’s your brain resisting HCA mode. Don’t let it happen. Force yourself to concentrate. Get past your brain’s gravitational pull. Once you do that, concentration becomes enjoyable. And your brain will gradually cease objecting to it.

Three Keys to the Highly Concentrated State

Here are the three key steps to getting yourself into highly concentrated attention whenever you desire. Step one, reduce distractions. Either alter your anything-can-happen (ACH) environment by turning off the phone, the television, or whatever distracts you, or leave your ACH environment for a more secluded spot. Notice this step calls for you to reduce distractions, not eliminate them. If you believe you must eliminate all distractions, you’ll end up concentrating more on the distractions than on your intended subject. On a remote island with nothing but you and nature, the birds or wind will become a distraction if you think you have to eliminate it. Incidentally, if you work in a hectic, distraction-rich environment that you can’t alter, you can still concentrate. I’m going to give you the secret to that in a few minutes.

Step two, allocate special time for HCA mode. It’s much easier to get into HCA mode if you dedicate special time for it. Time when you’re not doing anything else. Coming into work an hour or two early before everyone else shows up and the phone starts ringing is a great idea. You’ll probably get more done during that period than in the eight hours that follow.

Next, choose either step 3A or 3B. Here’s 3A: Put the object of your attention into motion. Motion commands attention. That’s how video games suck you into HCA mode so quickly. There’s constant motion on the screen with multiple things happening in rapid succession. If whatever you’re trying to concentrate on is moving, like a person walking by, a movie, an airborne baseball, or an assembly line, you’re in luck. But what if the object is inherently stationary, like a book? Then you should be moving. Move your eyes rapidly across the words. You’re not trying to speed read; you’re just warming up, getting yourself into HCA mode.

Motion doesn’t always involve sight. Sounds can be put into motion, too. Which is easier for children to remember, a random string of words or a nursery rhyme? When the words are in motion, like a poem or song, they attract deeper attention.

Step 3B, choose this step if the object of your desired attention isn’t something you can see or hear. Step 3B is, engage in physical movement. Sometimes you want to concentrate on thoughts. You want to contemplate the future or think about a relationship or come up with an idea or solution. To concentrate on something you can’t see, hear, or touch, put yourself into motion. I know a guy who races dirt bikes as a means of getting himself into HCA mode and making decisions. President Reagan said back when he was president he’d often go horseback riding to concentrate on difficult decisions he had to make. I often walk through the park or drive to nowhere to get myself into HCA mode.

Have you ever driven past your intended freeway exit and not realized that until later? You were probably in HCA mode, though it wasn’t your driving that you were concentrating on. You know, at the office I’ll start walking back and forth or in circles to get myself into HCA mode. It looks a little strange, but it does work.

What if you’re required to concentrate even though your environment is hectic and full of distractions? You can still concentrate no matter what’s going on. Here are three auxiliary steps to take in addition to those we just covered that will allow you to get into HCA mode in an ACH environment.

Auxiliary step one, keep your eyes focused on one small object. Air traffic controllers, for example, focus on that radar screen for the duration of their shift, rarely taking their eyes off it. Surgeons wear magnifying glasses and focus on one specific thing at a time.

Jerry Rice, the record-setting wide receiver for the San Francisco ’49ers, used to stare at the ball while it was sailing through the air. In fact, in one interview, he said he actually stares at the tip of the ball, an even smaller object. You can’t find a louder, faster, more hectic environment than a football game. But Jerry said while he’s running down the field, staring at the tip of the ball, he can’t hear the crowd; he can’t hear the footsteps. He tunes it all out. That’s HCA mode all right, and you can see how that aided Jerry’s productivity.

Auxiliary step two, create a wall of sound. Sounds will distract you if they’re erratic, like when it’s quiet for a minute or so and someone sneaks up behind you and says, “Hey!” But if the sounds are steady, rather than erratic, like the crowd at a baseball, basketball, or football game, you can tune them out. The steady drone of a particular sound can become a wall of sound that transforms itself into non-distractive background sound.

Ironically, you can reduce the distractiveness of sound by adding to the sound. Turning on the radio at work, for example, creates a steady wall of sound that negates sound distractions. Leaving the television on for long lengths of time turns it into wallpaper video, meaning it becomes background and negates other distractions that might appear erratically.

Auxiliary step three, become acclimated to your ACH environment. With people talking, phones ringing, and interruptions interrupting, is it any wonder you get any work done at all, right? You may quickly conclude that you just can’t concentrate in such a hectic environment. That conclusion, while understandable, may be incorrect. You can concentrate in an ACH environment if you give yourself time to acclimate to it.

I did just that back in the mid ’70s when I was a newscaster and a copywriter at a radio station. I had to write the commercials, and I had to concentrate to do that. I had no choice but to force myself to concentrate, despite the hectic environment. Before long, I got used to it, and writing in that ACH environment became easy. I ran into a guy about a year ago who told me he goes to a local restaurant on Sunday afternoons when it’s crowded and noisy to concentrate on things. He learned to concentrate in an ACH environment and became hooked on it. He actually found the people, the noise, the interruptions mentally stimulating. This happens to many people who learn—and it is a learned behavior—how to thrive on a hectic environment and be productive not in spite of it but because of it.

Force yourself to concentrate even when things are hectic and distractive. Don’t say, “I can’t concentrate in here. There’s too much noise.” In time you will acclimate, and you will get into HCA mode at will. And you’ll double your productivity regardless of the distractions.