Dr. Joe Vitale’s Blog

 Last April 15th I ordered a limited edition carbon-fiber travel guitar called a Blackbird.

Only fifty of these babies were being made.

Mine arrived today.

Mine is number seven of the fifty.

It took over six months to get here.

As you can tell by the look on my face, I’m pretty pleased with my little Blackbird guitar.

Why aren’t I upset that it took six months to be made?

After all, when I was at the Panoz Auto place last June, I saw how carbon-fiber products are made.

It doesn’t take six months.

The reason I wasn’t upset is that Joe Luttwak, chief musical officer for Blackbird guitars, stayed in constant contact with me.

He sent me emails letting me know what was happening and why.

This constant contact comforted me.

I patiently awaited the arrival of my Blackbird.

And it landed today.

And oh, can it sing!

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — See my original post about the Blackbird guitar at http://blog.mrfire.com/uncategorized/sing-blackbird-sing/ 

PPS – The T-shirt I’m wearing in the above picture is not of Mickey Mouse. What looks like large mouse ears are heavy weights on a bending barbell. The shirt says “One More Rep.” When I work-out, it’s my motto.

Riveting.

That’s the only word to describe the book I couldn’t stop reading on the flight back from Chicago.

Riveting.

I was tired from spending almost a week recording my new audioprogram for Nightingale-Conant.*

I wanted to sleep.

I needed to sleep.

But I couldn’t put the book down.

All NLP people, hypnotic writing disciples, negotiators and persuasionists, sales people and marketers need to write this title down:

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything.

It’s by the same team who wrote Crucial Conversations (which I haven’t read yet): Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzier.

I’m not sure how five authors write one book, but this one is well-written, packed with stories, case studies, tips and insights that are enriching my understanding of personal change and stretching my mind in entirely new directions.

Logic and verbal persuasion are out, as well as old school intervention tactics and other aggressive approaches to change.

They rarely work, anyway.

And never for the most persistent and overwhelming problems.

The authors make the powerful (and persuasive) case that if you want to change the most troublesome problems in yourself or anyone else, you need to study the change agents who have done the impossible, people like —

* Dr. Mimi Silbert, who created a way to change thieves, prostitutes, murderers and gang members into college educated citizens who work regular, respected jobs — and without therapists, staff, funding, grants, or guards.

* Miguel Sabido, a TV producer in Mexico who creates life changing soap operas that have helped millions — including one show that caused over a quarter million viewers to flood the streets looking for a booklet on how to cure illiteracy.

* Dr. Wiwat, who helped stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Thailand by getting all the sex workers to practice safe sex.

* Garth Japhet, who helped stop wife beatings and other violence against women in South Africa.

* Muhammad Yumus, Nobel Prize winner, founder of Grameen Bank, who helps women in poverty in India with microcredit loans to put them into business – to date helping over 100 million people, and with a 98 percent success rate.

* And Albert Bandura, the modern psychologist, a genius, who invented self-efficacy (the unbending belief that you can do something), who all modern influence masters and change agents study when they want to know how to change the “impossible.”

I’m reading Influencer to learn new ways to influence myself. (There’s always something to improve.) I’m also reading it to understand how to change others for the highest good of all concerned.

This is a powerful, inspiring, important book. It’s aimed at changing groups or organizations (even countries), but the applications are personal as well as professional.

If you want to change something in yourself or another and have been hitting a wall, Influencer may be the door to freedom.

Their approach involves research, behavior study, and a multiple of methods that are weaved into a strategy where the desired change is virtually inevitable.

Creating a change strategy based on the authors’ methods will take time, but the ending result could be amazing.

See www.vitalsmarts.com for information on it and other books by the authors.

Highly recommended.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS –  Have I mentioned I think the book is riveting?

* My previous program with Nightingale-Conant is The Power of Outrageous Marketing. My new program is called The Missing Secret and will explain the Law of Attraction in a practical way. It will be released on November 12th. Mark your calendar. 🙂

You can see a brief video clip on youtube of me answering questions about marketing and Zero Limits and writing and publicity and a whole lot more from a wired audience at http://youtube.com/watch?v=zaoEhWRM-UE  It’s an excerpt from the DVD explained at www.patobryan.com/revelation.htm Go see.

 One of the guardian angels in my life is Peter Wink.

If you’ve been following my career, you know he is the reason I ended up with my first Nightingale-Conant audioprogram some ten years ago.

Peter believed in me before anyone else, and worked for an entire year to make me a Nightingale-Conant author.

I’ve often told the story of how he put my picture in every office at N-C, including the mens and womens bathrooms, and also on top of the company Christmas tree.

He wanted people to know who I was. He eventually sold me to the company, and my program, The Power of Outrageous Marketing, remains a top bestseller for N-C even today.

Peter and his beautiful wife Stephanie have been entertaining us a lot this week here in Chicago. They are loving, positive, supportive people.

Peter still believes in me and wants to see my career go even higher and reach even more people. I tell you, we all need coaches and supporters like this. It’s a key to success.

Peter’s website is www.peterwink.com He’s got a terrific book on negotiating you should get, too.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – I finished recording my new audioprogram for Nightingale-Conant this morning. It will be ready for review on November 12. Stay tuned.

 Dinner tonight was amazing. Hanging with the great Vic Conant of Nightingale-Conant fame was a wonderful moment. The man is humble, wise, and full of stories about the legends of personal development. I urged him to write a book about his life but I doubt he’ll do it. Still, you never know. I need to make this short as I need to get up early and get back into the studio. More soon. Wish me luck.