Decades ago a stripper hired me. Yes, a stripper. She wanted to write a book about her years as a topless dancer, and her transformation to being a military officer. I agreed to see her. Of course.
I enjoyed our meetings. She was attractive, upbeat and positive. She had a fascinating life (boy, could I tell you some stories) and she was on a new path in the military. I thought her story was fascinating and inspiring. Stimulating, too.
We met several times. We both knew her book had the potential for greatness. It could entertain and educate people. And I predicted it could be a bestseller. With the help of the Internet, which was new then but still a viable promotional vehicle, she could get the word out to thousands of potential readers. This would be a hit. I knew it.
But then she disappeared.
She didn’t answer her phone or email. I had an address for her, so I wrote her the old fashioned way, by snail mail. But the letter came back as undeliverable.
What happened?
One day I ran into her at a restaurant. She was friendly to me but aloof. She didn’t explain her disappearance or avoidance. I scratched my head for a while until I realized she had everything lined up for success except the most important ingredient of all: the inner.
I’ve seen this happen countless times with various people I’ve helped (or tried to help) over the years. They get really close to success and then back away. I remember one time having a check in hand for a singer, waiting to meet him to give him a tithe or love offering for inspiring me with his music. He had promised to meet. But at the last minute, he didn’t show. We rescheduled. He didn’t show the next time, either. Of course, he never got the check. And that’s the point.
What I’m demonstrating to you is this: There is a very real “inner game” to success. It means if you don’t get in alignment with success inside yourself – with your beliefs and self worth and sense of deservingness – then you may very well sabotage your own potential. And you may not even know it. You’ll just blame someone (anyone) else on things not working out.
This is HUGE.
Part of my writings these days is about helping you get the inner game set up right. That means knowing success is good, money is good, you are good, the Internet is good, marketing is good, and winning is good. Until you feel that way inside yourself, on a deep level in your unconscious mind, your inner game will be off. And when the inner is not in alignment for success, virtually nothing you do will work.
None of this is new. I first wrote and spoke about “inner game” awareness back the 1980’s, and you’ll find it in my book, Hypnotic Writing. Back then I talked about there being a “critic” and a “master” within you. The critic stops you from completing anything because it turns your passion into mush. The master is the part of you that can do things successfully.
Too often, we listen to the inner critic. As a result, we end up sabotaging ourselves. What gets even more curious is the fact we seem to prefer it that way. We actually seem to like failing rather than succeeding.
I know this first hand. I struggled for decades. I was homeless. I was in poverty. I was miserable. I was doing everything right, yet I couldn’t seem to succeed. It wasn’t until I started turning within and working on my inner game that things began to shift. As I got clear within myself of all the negative and limiting beliefs, I was able to free myself to allow what I was doing to finally succeed.
What was the big secret?
I had to change the inner game within me from one of expecting failure to one of expecting success. Today I live a lifestyle of the rich and famous. Yet I’m the same guy who struggled decades ago, though. The only change is within me.
Let’s look at this a little more closely.
Why would you not be in alignment for success?
First, unconscious beliefs are running your life.
For example, most of us have been brought up to think “money is the root of all evil.” If you think money is evil, would you want to have any? Hardly. As I wrote in my book, Attract Money Now, money is neutral. The biblical quote everyone remembers is inaccurate. The longer quote says it’s the love of money that is the problem. Well, guess what, all the wealthy people I know don’t love money, they simply appreciate it. Big difference.
But the inner game goes deeper than that.
Most of us have been taught that we aren’t worthy of success. We received subtle messages from family, friends, culture, religion, government, and the school system and more that we are victims and that struggling is the way of life. I had to go through poverty and homelessness before I found that not to be true. You can make it true, of course. But it doesn’t have to be true.
Second, your self-talk is controlling you.
Most people don’t take any notice of what they are doing inside. The inner game is all about how you talk to yourself as well as what you unconsciously believe about yourself. I encouraged a former cheerleader to write a book on how all of us can create an inner cheerleader inside ourselves. Because she was in alignment for success and her inner game was set for success, she did in fact write and publish her book.
I’ve often said that I can teach you about Internet marketing, copywriting, publicity and more. After all, I’ve written Buying Trances, There’s a Customer Born Every Minute, and so on. I’ve been marketing online for decades. I created marketing formulas that get results. I can teach you what works. But if your inner game isn’t ready for success, you’ll either not listen to me, misinterpret what I tell you, or simply not do anything at all.
Why? Because your inner voices are talking you out of your own good.
Listen to me. Even right now, as you read these words, there’s a voice in your head talking. It might be telling you to take notes and get ready to take action. Or it might be whispering that you need to stop reading this nonsense and go do the laundry.
What can you do about this?
1. Be aware. Listen to the voices in your head. The naysayers are the team on the inner game of failure side. The cheerleaders are the team on the inner game of success side. You can learn to tell the difference. You can learn to choose who to listen to. After all, you are in charge, not the voices. I’ve written a song for Strut!, my recent music CD, called “The Choice.” It’s to help remind us that we can choose who to listen to. You have choice.
2. Get support. I find results happen faster when you surround yourself with people who truly want your success. I created Miracles Coaching for that reason. That program has been helping people over five years now. But you can also create or join a mastermind group. The idea is to plant yourself where success will grow, by getting sunshine from other people. (And giving it to them, too, or course.)
3. Take action. The more you take action, the more you will get feedback about what you truly believe in your inner world. You don’t need to beat yourself up if things don’t always work. It’s all data. Just learn, adjust, and move forward. Not everything I tried worked out, but instead of giving up, I learned and moved on to create another project that did achieve success.
This is how the inner game of success actually works. It’s what happens on the inside of you that creates or attracts the outer results you get. If you want to change the outer, change your inner.
In a way, you have to became a stripper of beliefs (as opposed to becoming a stripper on stage).
May you strip away limitations and strut to success.
After all, you deserve it.
Right?
Ao Akua,
PS – Last year I gave a presentation at the offices of my Miracles Coaching team where I explained seven ways to get clear. The group loved the steps. The event was filmed and later turned into a free course you can watch online. Go here to see it right now: http://www.joevitalecoach.com/campaigns/sevensteps/
PPS — You can hear excerpts from my healing music albums at Strut! and Blue Healer. The direct links are: http://www.HealingMojoMusic.com and http://www.GetUpandStrut.com Enjoy.
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Years ago I asked Rhonda Byrne — the woman behind the Law of Attraction hit movie The Secret — an important question.
We were having dinner in Maui when I asked, “How did you come up with the idea for the movie?”
She thought for a long time before answering, “I called it forth.”
“I called it forth” could mean a lot of things. But the other day I came across a quote from film maker David Lynch that made it all come together:
“Ideas are floating like fish. Desire for an idea is like a bait on a hook.”
It made sense to me because this is how I’m creating music. Songs are floating around in the ethereal world. My desire for a song attracts one to me. The more precise I am in my request for a particular kind of song, the more accurate the match will be.
This doesn’t mean I’m in charge of the songs. I’m a receiver for them. Music is still the boss. Songs are still in charge. I get to tinker with the idea after it arrives, but the idea itself comes by grace.
But I attract it by desiring it.
For example, one year or so ago, when I had my training wheels on as a songwriter and was experimenting with writing songs for the first time, I remember thinking, “I want to write a song about being kind to others.”
That might sound simplistic to you. But even way back in the mid 1990s, in my first book on Internet marketing, called CyberWriting, I suggested we learn to write in kindness as a way to keep peace online. This “kindness theme” has been with me for decades, as a kind of prime directive in my life and work, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I wanted to express it in a song.
But how?
I remember sitting on my deck outside my office, looking at the trees, and desiring a song about this message. As I meditated, one started to come to me. I jotted down what I was receiving. I played with it. I picked up a guitar and added some chords to it. The end result is the powerful stand-out song called “Everybody’s Goin’ Thru Somethin'” on my first singer-songwriter album, Strut!
In short, I attracted the song by my desire for the song.
I do the same thing for this blog. I often have no idea at all what to write about, but my desire for a fresh blog post “calls forth” the idea I need.
News Flash: Strut! is now available for you to order. You can hear excerpts from my healing music albums at Strut! and Blue Healer.
For example, I didn’t know I was going to write this very post on how to attract great ideas. All I had was a desire for a post, which is what started the process to “call forth” an idea.
I then stumbled across the David Lynch quote while reading a magazine. Once I saw it, something clicked in me. I then recalled my dinner with Rhonda, and the post began to come together. I then sat down and wrote this for you.
But it all began with my desire for an idea.
Rhonda called forth her idea for a film about the Law of Attraction. She had a desire to share her insight, and that desire “called forth” a means. The result was a movie of historic importance.
You can do this, too.
What do you want to create?
A movie? A song? A business? A solution?
It doesn’t matter.
The first step is to declare your intention. Complete the sentence, “I intend to….” with whatever it is you want to attract.
“I intend to…create a website that brings in more sales.”
“I intend to…write a song about the theme of divine love.”
“I intend to…attract unexpected income by Friday.”
“I intend to…attract a loving person to date.”
My suggestions are loose as I’m making them up, but yours can be specific.
After that, allow ideas to come to you. Make space for them. Go for a walk. Relax in the hot tub. Sit in quiet meditation. Read a novel. Have a cup of tea.
Declaring your intention is the request that “calls forth” an idea to fulfill it. Making time to receive ideas is how you open yourself to hear the answer to your intention. Of course, after that, you need to take action on the idea to bring it into reality.
This process works for me.
It clearly works for Rhonda Byrne.
It will work for you, as well.
You just have to do it.
What would you like to “call forth” next?
Ao Akua,
PS — Strut! is now available for you to order. You can hear excerpts from my healing music albums at Strut! and Blue Healer. The direct links are: http://www.HealingMojoMusic.com and http://www.GetUpandStrut.com
My father called me recently and asked, “Do you remember what happened on December 1, 1966?”
I can remember a lot of things, but events from the sixties aren’t usually among them.
In early December of 1966 I was twelve years old. Twelve. I can’t remember much at all from that year.
So what happened?
My father said, “That’s when we moved into the house you helped build.”
The home my parents are still in was built by my father, me, and my two younger brothers. It took a few years. It was all done by hand. The house is strong, reinforced in ways that didn’t have to be done. My father wanted a home that would stand the test of time. He succeeded. I do remember building it, hammering, sawing, doing a lot of labor.
Now here’s the interesting part:
Throughout my life I thought I was a teenager — sixteen or older — when I helped build that house. Even for a teenager, that’s quite an accomplishment. But apparently I was building that house — hammering my thumb and sawing lumber or my fingers — when I was ten years old.
Why is this important?
It seems to me that this early upbringing taught me the value of doing something to attain something. Work on the railroad and trains can pass. Build a house and a family has a home.
This core value is with me today. No wonder I’ve been able to write so many books, record so many programs, travel around the world, speak, teach, consult and more. I learned to work when I was a tot.
As with most anything, this is a skill you can learn. These days I don’t have to work on railroad tracks or build houses, but I still work. It’s just a different kind of work. Writing this blog is “work.” I prefer it over hammering nails.
When I look around, I see people who want to have things handed to them. I can’t blame them, as who wouldn’t want it that way, but that’s not how the world works. You have to do something. Even when you consciously use the Law of Attraction, action is still needed. That’s often overlooked.
If things are slow in coming to you, you might ask if there’s work for you to do.
If so, go do it.
Today.
Ao Akua,
PS – What have I been “working” on recently? You can hear excerpts from my healing music albums at either Strut! or Blue Healer. The direct links are: http://www.HealingMojoMusic.com and http://www.GetUpandStrut.com
If you’ve ever doubted that you could accomplish something, you’ll love this story.
A year ago I hadn’t written a single song, couldn’t carry a tune, didn’t have a solid beat, only knew a few guitar chords, and never sang in public or in the studio.
Today I have my first singer-songwriter album done. All songs by me. Everything sung by me. With guitar and harmonica playing by me. It’s called Strut!
And earlier this year, back in April, I released my first music album, called Blue Healer.
I went from zero to recorded musician in less than a year.
I hope you don’t think this is bragging. I’m sharing this with you to inspire you to go for your own dreams. If I can come out of the gate with no experience or education in music, and record something noteworthy within twelve months, then you can most likely do what you dream, as well.
Who’s to say you can’t?
To help you here, let’s look at the steps I took to recreate myself as a musician. This is a blueprint for you and what you want to do. In some respects, this is the secret process nobody (but me) wants you to know.
Here they are:
There you have it. Those five steps are the keys to attracting and achieving your own goals, even if they seem so big or out of your comfort zone to seem near impossible.
You don’t know what is impossible. So start now to manifest your dreams.
But let’s not stop there. I think it will be helpful to look at the songs I recorded for Strut! After all, I wrote them as “Healing Music” — songs of motivation, transformation and inspiration — all designed to help you achieve your dreams. This music illustrates the secret process nobody wants you to know.
Note: You can hear excerpts from my healing music albums at either Strut! or Blue Healer. The direct links are: http://www.HealingMojoMusic.com and http://www.GetUpandStrut.com
As I told the other Joe Vitale — famous drummer for such music legends as Neil Young and Joe Walsh, who ended up playing amazing drums on my album — “I love music but too much of it plants negative messages that we absorb without thinking. The Rolling Stones singing “You can’t always get what you want” and “I can’t get no satisfaction” are programming us to believe in scarcity. I want to record music that is as beloved as the classics, but instead plants positive messages in you.”
There’s positive meaning behind each of my songs. I know because I wrote them all (except for the one noted below). Here are their secrets (which nobody has ever known, until now)…
“Today’s the Day” is a hypnotic blues-rock theme that grabs you and conveys the message that you need to take action. Today. In the song, an angel comes to me and tells me a secret. She then repeats it until you get it. I sing and play baritone guitar and harmonica on this one. This is my favorite track.
“Strut!” came from the idea that when you change your physiology, you change your psychology. Meaning, if you feel blue, get up and move around. Dance. Jiggle. Strut. This is my favorite track.
“Got a Problem?” conveys the amazing message of miracle healing from my book, Zero Limits, called ho’oponopono. It’s an original and unforgettable song about love. It gives me chills. This is my favorite track.
“Testosterone” is based on a true story, one I never planned to share. I’d rather not talk about it. Just listen to the song. This is my favorite track.
“Everybody’s Goin’ Thru Somethin” is a reminder that your problems aren’t just yours. We all got them. Even you. Even me. It’s a plea to be kind to others. To be understanding and forgiving. This is my favorite track.
“Strut Interlude” is a type of intermission. I came up with a guitar riff and we played to it for a couple minutes. It’s the section where you get to go fetch something to drink, go to the bathroom, groom your pet, change your shorts, or whatever. This is my favorite track.
“Totoro” is a whimsical song about a cartoon-ish fictional forest creature in Japan, and lost childhood magic. It’s a story about reconnecting with wonder. This is my favorite track.
“Money! Let’s go Get Some!” will reprogram your mind about the nature of money so you can more easily attract it. The groove in this tune will stick with you. I expect this one to become a movie soundtrack. This is my favorite track.
“The Choice” is a hypnotic tale, with beautiful guitar added by Mathew Dixon, about the nature of good and evil. Whew. You gotta hear it. It still haunts me (in a good way). This is my favorite track.
“All Along the Watchtower” is Bob Dylan’s famous song, updated with three new verses by me. I wanted to leave listeners with a positive message. So I wrote one. I’m sure Dylan will thank me. This is my favorite track.
“Three Months” is dedicated to the late Judy Sherman, a woman given three months to live. It’s an urgent message about deciding what you would do if given a short period of time. This one will surprise you. It also contains my primal screaming singing of “Struuuuuuuuut!” This is my favorite track.
As you can sense, all of these songs are designed to support you in strutting toward your dreams.
I’m not stopping with this album, either. I’m currently recording a healing instrumental album with Mathew Dixon (with me playing the world’s first healing guitar), and already working on my next singer-songwriter CD. I’m on a roll, having a blast, and making yet another dream come true.
But that’s about me.
What about you?
The message for you here is to go for your dreams.
Isn’t that where the gusto of life is?
You now know the “secret formula” nobody wants you to know.
What are you going to do with it?
Ao Akua,
PS — Excuses are a dime a dozen. What are you going to actually do today?
Note: You can hear excerpts from my healing music albums at either Strut! or Blue Healer. The direct links are: http://www.HealingMojoMusic.com and http://www.GetUpandStrut.com