Seven Days To Live Your Dreams

When you’re trying to change yourself – and your life – “going it alone” is tough.  Human beings are social animals, and the “feeling” part of our brains looks to other people to get feedback on whether it’s motivating us to do the right things.  And when we start trying to behave differently from those around us, we begin to feel doubtful and insecure.

Some of us try to work around this by sharing our goals or dreams with the people close to us, but this doesn’t always work well either.  Even the most loving and caring friends or family may still question why you want what you want, or express fear and doubt.  Maybe they just want to protect you from disappointment.  Or maybe they’re afraid that if you change, you won’t need them any more.

There are a truly a thousand and one reasons why the people close to you may not be able to help you grow in the way you want.  And the truth is, none of those people in your life ever signed on to be your coach or support group anyway, so it’s really not reasonable for you to expect them to start doing it now.

But the people who attended the Banish Unwanted Feelings Forever workshop this past weekend, learned about something that’s a powerful alternative to going it alone, a way to not only get coaching and support from others with similar goals, but to get the insights and practical know-how they’ll need to actually accomplish their goals.  And 25% of them have already gotten started.

Nothing More Than Feelings

You see, while I was developing the workshop materials, I quickly realized that what I could give people in those first two hours was really going to be just the beginning.  The workshop was like an opportunity or invitation for people to “wake up” and realize how their brains really work – that logic and reason alone don’t make anybody do anything, and that mastery of one’s feelings is the only way to change your life.

And being able to zap unwanted feelings instantly is a powerful tool, but by itself, it won’t actually change your life.  If you’re in a prison formed by your emotions, then zapping emotions is like being able to walk through the walls.  But, if you don’t actually go anywhere, then guess what: you’re still in prison!

So, I knew that I needed to do more than just teach people to walk through the walls.  I had to create an entire “escape route” for people to break out of the prison of their past.  Because if all you do is zap bad feelings, and you don’t have any ways to create good ones, then you’re just going to feel nothing.  And is that really an improvement?

So I actually designed an entire series of workshops; the one that took place last weekend, and six more.  Seven in all, covering the themes of acceptance, creativity, decisions, motivation, action, organization, and balance.  Thus creating a complete “escape route” to get people past the walls of unwanted emotions, creative blocks, fear of commitment to their goals, procrastination, clutter, and imbalance.  A route that goes all the way out into the blue sky and sunshine of the lives they were meant to live instead.

And one of the most important ingredients of this escape plan is the support of other people, myself included.  Over the last six months, I’ve had the privilege of spending a lot of time with people who long ago made the same escape, and I have to tell you that just being around them – listening to what they say and studying the way they think – has helped me tremendously, even though they never once explained the “escape route”.  But they gave me continuous examples of what it was like to be “on the outside”, and I was able to find my own way out by continuously checking where I was, relative to where they were.

Get the Prison Blueprints

So, even without a clear map, just having the support of people who want you to suceed (and have done so themselves) is a powerful thing.  Each time I come into contact with people who have done or are doing what I want to do, I feel like “yes, it’s really possible.  I can do what he’s doing.”  Examples are everything.

But if you haven’t actually experienced that yet, you don’t really know how powerful it is.  Chances are good that you still think that knowledge is more important – just like I did until I actually had some examples.  So it’s a good thing that I also kept a careful record of my “escape route”, so that I can share with you the location of all the walls and the fences and the guards and the barbed wire.  Seven Days to Live Your Dreams is that record.

Seven Days to Live Your Dreams is a three-month coaching program, in three levels: basic, intensive, and extreme.  At the basic level, participants just take telephone workshops every two weeks, and get support and coaching through a private forum, where they’ll share their goals, successes, and problems with me and the other members.

At the “intensive” level, participants will also have six group coaching calls, where I’ll provide additional tips and spend more time addressing individual’s questions and concerns than would be possible through the forum and workshops alone.  This level will be limited to 10 participants, so that it’s a smaller group and people can share a more intense bond, as well as greater visibility and accountability for what they’re actually doing in their lives towards their goals.  At this level, you’ll have the extra motivation of knowing that every week, I and the other “intensive” people will all know whether you did what you said you would!

And finally, at the “extreme” level, a maximum of two people will be able to get one hour every week with me on the phone in a completely private call, to work on their specific life issues in detail – and that’s in addition to everything that’s part of the other two levels.  This is the “extreme” level because it’s also going to be the toughest.  Not just in the time and money commitments involved for participants, but also because I’m going to be much tougher on these two people than I will be on anybody else.  So it will be an “extreme” experience, that only a few people are currently ready for.

eXtreme Life, Dude!

And of course, all three levels are going to be an “extreme” exercise for me, as I have a full-time “day job” that’ll still be going on during all of this.  Luckily, I already know most of the things that I’ll be teaching my new coaching clients about getting past creative blocks, committing to my goals, banishing procrastination, maintaining life/work balance, and so on.  So, I’m finally in a place where I can do something like this and not “die trying”.

And I’m really excited, because working with all of you so far has been an absolute blast.  As people started signing up for the Seven Days program last night, and I started giving them their first coaching assignments, I yelled out, “I love my new job!”

And that’s not something that’s happened much in most of my career.  I’ve had a lot of really enjoyable work, and even a lot of fulfilling work.  But this is the work in which I’m most directly helping people and getting to experience that, and I’m also getting a taste of what it will be like to write and speak for a living, which has been my dream for over twenty years.

So I encourage you to join the people who ordered a copy of You, Version 2.0 since my last post (three of you, two of whom will be the first in their country to get a copy!), and the people who already have a copy and have already asked for the workshop “replay line” information.  You’re going to hear a lot of important things on that call, and at the end, you’ll hear me give some more information about what’s in the Seven Days program, and how to join it.  Because it’s only available to people who have gone through the first workshop, which gives you the basic understanding and skills to move forward with the rest.

But you’ll need to act quickly.  The replay line is only available this week, and the first “intensive” and “extreme” level sessions start this coming weekend.  And over 25% of the people who heard the call live have already signed up and gotten their first assignments.  So act now.  If you don’t have You, Version 2.0,  order it now, and I’ll send you the replay line information, so you can call in and hear the recorded workshop right away.  And if you already have You, Version 2.0, then send an email to secondchance “at” dirtsimple.org to get the replay line information.  Make today the first of your “Seven Days” to live your dreams!