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The Panoz family are fascinating.

They are passion driven people who succeed at car making and racing, wine making, spa and resort making, and more.

The only Panoz person in the above picture is Melanie, the Irish redhead to my right. She’s a hoot. She taught me to swear in Irish. (Don’t ask.)

The gent to her right is John Leveritt, one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met. He gave us a tour of the assembly line where Panoz cars are assembled by loving hands. He also showed us unusual Panoz race cars, including a Hybrid, and a car that refuses to be photographed because of the mystical nature of its paint.

Beside me of course is Nerissa and then our friends Rick and Mary Barrett. Mary did the all day spa with Nerissa while Rick and I learned race car driving.

The thing I noticed most about the Panoz family is their passion. They trust their gut, and they take risks. Good reminders for you and me, too.

Ao Akua,

joe

www.mrfire.com

PS – Panoz is pronounced “pay nose.” Their auto site is at www.panoz.com My site revealing Francine is at www.mrfire.com/francine

I discovered a great life lesson while learning how to drive a race car yesterday.

We just returned from a terrific weekend north of Atlanta. Nerissa was pampered all day at the Chateau Elan spa, owned by the Panoz family. I spent all day at the Panoz Racing School, also owned by the Panoz family.

While zipping along at warp speed, dressed in helmet and heavy flame retardant clothing, sweat beading on my forehead as I concentrated on driving the hot monster I was in, I learned the way to drive with power, passion and control is to always be looking past where you are, toward where you want to go.

Race car drivers have to be focused on where they are while looking toward where they want to go.

As they approach where they want to go, they then look past it to the next goal, and so on.

With this emphasis on vision, they can move around the track at blurring speed and break all known records – all while having a blast.

The way the instructors teach this to newbie drivers like me is to place bright orange cones at strategic places on the Atlanta Sebring Race Track.

As we whip around a corner, we aim for the cone, but as we see we are approaching it, we look away from it to the next cone.

As we approach that new cone, we look past it to the next one, and so on.

This method of using your vision to move down the road makes the rest of you follow.

If you look in a particular direction while driving, the rest of you starts to go in that direction. If you are “one with the car” – a term racers actually use – the car will follow.

This is a life lesson.

When you state an intention, you naturally start go toward it. Unless you stop yourself, you’ll head to that goal.

But the way to keep your momentum up is to have another goal or intention (or cone), to go for next.

This is one of my secrets of productivity.

I’m able to produce so much because my eyes are on the next intention while I’m rounding the bend on the current intention. As I’m finishing a book, I’m beginning to think about the next one.

I’m being here now while looking toward the next now.

Ao Akua,

joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – The Panoz family made Francine, my 2005 Panoz Esperante GTLM exotic sports car. Francine is actually more powerful than the race cars I handled yesterday. So the next time you see me driving her, you better pull over and let me pass. I’ll be looking for the next cone.

Note: If you want to know more of my Secrets of Productivity, see www.secretofproductivity.com

Back in 1995 I promoted a policeman turned author who believed gang members needed rules and structure, that in fact that’s what they sought by joining a gang.

Last night we watched the movie Gridiron Gang, which essentially said the same thing: give kids structure, rules and a challenge, and they can transform.

I loved the movie. In one scene the head coach, played by The Rock, tells a troubled youth (in fact, a killer), that he has to forgive his father for what he did to him.

The coach explains his own father had destroyed his self-esteem; that his own youth was no picnic.

The youth asks the coach how long it took him to forgive his father.

There’s a long period of silence before the coach, with tears in his eyes, admits he hadn’t forgiven his own father until that very moment.

The movie isn’t all about forgiveness but it is about inspiration. It’s about not giving in to the possible and instead going for the impossible. It’s about not letting “throwaway” kids die but instead giving them real hope. It’s about daring something worthy.

It’s based on a true story and is well worth your time.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – If you want help in forgiving your father or anyone else, consider the Subliminal Manifestation DVD at www.subliminalmanifestation.com Forgiveness frees you to experience life with power and love.

I put up this new blog two days ago, wrote two new posts, invited my entire email list to come review it, and waited for the applause.

Nothing.

No comments.

No emails.

No love letters, cookies, cigars, care packages, Amazon gift certificates, or anything else.

What happened to my audience?

I started to think that no one loved the new blog, or my new posts, or me.

Amazing how the mind falls back to negativity if it isn’t guarded against.

So I decided I would continue writing these posts for me, because I love doing it. I’m a writer so I must write.

I then went into my hot tub, which is my literal “think tank.”

As I was percolating, it suddenly occurred to me that maybe people were commenting and I didn’t know it. After all, I’m new to WordPress.

I staggered out of the tub, went inside to my computer, poked around WordPress, and sure enough, there were 74 comments sitting there waiting for my approval.

They were all glowing, too.

Goes to show you (or me): You can’t assume anything, you can’t allow negativity to slow you down and, with a little education, anything is possible.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – Thank you for reading my posts. Comments are wlecome.

Last week I was placed in front of a video camera twice and filmed, once for a movie to be released in September and another for a DVD to be released next week.

Both times I had nothing to say and almost didn’t do the filming.

Both times I didn’t stop talking for almost 45 minutes.

How is that possible?

I learned a long time ago that even if I felt I had nothing to say or write, if I just started talking or writing, something would appear. More often than not, that something ended up being pretty darn good.

Decades ago, when I was studying great authors, I learned that they often sat down with no idea what they were going to write. But they wrote anyway. They trusted their unconscious to deliver something. It always did.

I think too many of us talk ourselves out of even trying.

Yes, sometimes what you write or say will have to be revised afterwards. That’s why we have editors and editing software.

But, surprisingly — and I say that literally as I’m still amazed at how this works — what comes out of “nothingness” is often brilliance.

My tip for today is to trust yourself more. Don’t refuse to speak or write because you have nothing to say. When the time goes, something will surface and you just might surprise yourself by what comes through you.

Ao Akua,

joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — When I began this post, I literally had “nothing to say.” I started typing anyway. Now look.