The Enemy Within
Never listen to, ‘experts.’
“Apple’s iPhone is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard which makes it not a very good e-mail machine.” -2007, Steve Balmer, Microsoft CEO
At the time of this statement, Steve was an expert. People listen to experts. People make decisions based on expert opinion. For that reason I have never had a board of directors or a board of advisors. How can someone with a regular job and position possibly advice a pioneer entrepreneur. It is madness.
I have one expert in my life that I rely on. She is called my intuition.
When I listen to experts it ends up hurting me. One time I wanted to buy $10,000 in Bitcoin. Its price per ‘coin’ was 12 cents. I watched and listened to the experts on yahoo finance. I decided it was too risky and a scam because they told me that. That decision potentially cost me $2.5 billion at today’s price as I write this (30K).
First tip: Never make decisions based on ‘expert’ opinions.
Welcome to our first activity.
Here, we will learn the need of a brain reboot in order to help us mentally prepare clear decks for a successful startup, one devoid of expert opinions.
The Reticular Activation System (RAS) in the brain stem is the enemy within. Imagine… our own brain is our biggest enemy.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why you don’t already have success with balance?
Maybe you think you’ve been unlucky, you weren’t ready, or the economy wasn’t right. That’s all hogwash. There is never a bad time to start a company. Luck has no part in it, and you were always ready. Your brain, or rather a small group of neurons in the brain stem at the back of your head, told you otherwise. That grouping of neurons is called the RAS. It is a little bugger and we need to put it in its place. We need to establish who is actually in charge.
In order to be ready for new adventures, new habits and new secrets, you have to reprogram this tricky little region of the brain. It will resist and this is not an easy task. It is, however, critical.
DO NOT SKIP THIS. IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITY.
The moment we are born is the purest in our entire lives. We have seen, felt, and heard nothing. Therefore, we have nothing to contemplate or react to. We are born an individual with unlimited potential. One second later, a well-meaning giant with a hand the size of a spade smacks us on the bottom. It’s commonly taught that we don’t feel pain in the first two weeks of life, (unproven but regardless) and it startles us. Because of that rude awakening and the realization that we are away from the warmth and security of the womb, we react. To our parents, our cry is the greatest sound in the universe. Until that is the first sleepless night at home!
Our newborn state of mentality is unguarded. Like a sponge dropped in a puddle, we absorb everything we sense in our environment. On the one hand, we learn quickly. On the other, we cannot filter anything. We take in all the feelings, moods, opinions and reactions of those around us from our family, school, culture, country, and media. Our state of mind fills up quickly, and most psychologists agree that our mentalities change very little after the age of five. We quickly cease to be individuals as we conform to the worldview we are fed. The world in the few feet diameter around us is our whole world and typically that forms us as who we are.
This is not a suitable mentality for success with balance. Very few people are lucky enough to be born into an environment of entrepreneurs. Those that are like Dell or Warren Buffet usually do pretty well with life.
Ask yourself, what are your prevailing beliefs and where did they come from? Who told you that in order to get to the top you have to work like mad? My father, who ironically at the time was unemployed, told me that. My mother on the other hand said, “stand up tall, look the world in the eye and you can be anything you want to be, Trevor.” Fortunately, I listened more to my mum than my dad. Following her advice, I have had and continue to create an extraordinary life full of adventure.
Which ‘expert’ did you allow into your brain to influence how you think?
During the credit crunch of 2002, my boss told me, ‘this is the wrong time to start a company because a recession is coming.’ He also told me I wasn’t qualified to make it as I had never been a CEO. Fortunately, I had read hundreds of inspiring biographies and knew that more than half of Fortune 500 companies started in a declining economy and no successful entrepreneur came from the corporate executive ranks. I sold QOL Medical LLC a few years later for $105 million. He never congratulated me.
My wife, Jess, grew up in a religious cult in which she was indoctrinated by the religious ‘experts’ to believe that education was wasted, especially because the world was about to end. Her purpose as a child was to preach the word of God to strangers, even on the street corner at 6 AM in the morning.
She escaped this cult at 17 with no notion of even how to live a normal life. She had never been taught anything worldly. She escaped from the horror of her life in an imaginary world of cartoons her whole childhood… which included being sexually abused at age 6. The elders, who of course were all men, brought her before a panel and demanded detailed descriptions. They blamed her and she was publicly humiliated in front of the ‘church’ while the pervert got off scot-free. Her mother and father were ashamed of her and treated her appallingly. When she decided to leave, members grabbed and physically shook her when they passed in the street, and called her evil. Her parents never sought her out and 30 years have passed.
She wasn’t sure if she was evil and for a while feeling the loneliest person imaginable in a ‘real’ world she didn’t understand, she tried to end it. Out. Done. What was the point?
When that didn’t work, she somehow decided to survive. Not only that but as the landlady tried to get her evicted (who was also a member of this cult) she decided she was going to work for Disney. She wanted to draw cartoons for a living.
What ‘expert’ would have encouraged that? Probably all would have sent her to a psychiatrist.
She approached a shirt logo designer company and offered the owner to work free for a week.
“If you like my work and I show I can learn fast, you hire me. If you don’t and I fail, I’ll walk out the door.’ She was hired a week later.
Three years passed and Jess began work for Disney as an animator and illustrator. To date, she’s worked for Disney twice, among other studios. Today, she is her own boss and has several best selling children’s books and a TV series in the works. All the sketches in this course are from her creative genius.
Science tells us that new knowledge and new tools rewire the brain, in turn our personalities automatically change to reflect our new beliefs. We become a reflection of what we believe. So, all we have to do is rewire our brains to believe something else and become a reflection of that. I did that for myself, I grew up poor and made an adventurous life for myself. The leap from one situation to the other was, however, not as great as the one Jess experienced.
In 2020 Jess joined my course, The Transformation Experience. I know now she didn’t really need it. She could have taught it.
Never take in what any expert tells you. Free thinking is essential!
As most infants age, however, we usually develop the same habits and reactions to outside stimuli as those we associate with. Jess believed what she was told for many years. I believed what my teachers and elders told me…, that I would amount to nothing. Kids mimic behaviors and take on the same values at the environment they are in. We are attracted and repulsed by similar things.
The result?
We continually seek experiences that reinforce learned group behavior and beliefs. We experience the same stuff, the same patterns over and over.
Why? How?.. it is not our fault but the fault of a tricky configuration of neurons.
This patterning is done automatically because of a small part of our brain-stem called, the Reticular Activation System (RAS). The RAS is a group of neurons unique to humans and certain reptiles.
In short, the RAS holds us in a loop of thoughts, behaviors, and actions unless we deliberately reprogram it.
The RAS Conundrum
The human mind has an ‘inhibitory system’ which routinely and automatically removes from perception, reason, and judgement over 99% of available fact.” – Jerome S. Bruner (1915-2016)
The RAS connects the brain stem to the cerebral cortex. The brain stem controls most involuntary functions, including reflexes, while the cerebral cortex is believed to be the seat of consciousness and cognitive abilities. The RAS is a bridge between these two regions and helps our consciousness put together an internal world through assimilation of sensory information.
A large part of this system consists of areas of the brain responsible for our survival instincts. So, it has a deep connection with the awareness functions of the brain.
When we’re awake, all sensory information that reaches the brain stem are transmitted via this system to the cerebrum for processing. But. Only after filtering through the RAS. This last fact is what I call, ‘the enemy within.’
The ability to filter out information from external sources and focus on one particular fact, detail, or thought is controlled by this area of the brain. If it weren’t for this circuitry, our consciousness would be overwhelmed with information, leading to an inability to make decisions. This system helps prioritize information and controls what appears in the mind’s eye, at any point in time.
From birth, we are bombarded every second by 2 million bits of data. We only have the capacity to process around 147 bits.
Let’s pause and digest that fact.
Our RAS filters out more than 99.927% of the real world. Almost all of it. We experience hardly any of what is out there. It is why people have only one religion, one sports team, one political viewpoint.
I recently got a stark reminder of this when Jess came into my life. She inadvertently started to rewire my RAS. As a successful illustrator, her RAS is programmed to notice art. Mine was not. I had programmed mine to seek out the science, the how and why of the world. In no time at all, however, I was astonished at how ‘observant’ Jess is, she points out art I simply hadn’t noticed. On the sidewalk, in a tree, in a house window. I had walked the same paths a thousand times but saw none of it.
Now my RAS is waking up to notice these things. Previously this aspect of the world was filtered out, I didn’t see the value in it, and my RAS always gives me more of what I think and value. Not only am I now observant of art, but as I let it all sink in I find I am beginning to understand and appreciate it in a whole new way. The stark reminder is that I had inadvertently programmed my RAS to devalue art and in so doing I saw very little of it. What I did see was always through someone else’s eyes.
Now, I not only appreciate art, I’ve recently purchased original art that speaks deeply to me.
‘I would be a hare’ – Margot Banks
The RAS acts as the filter that chooses the 147 bits of our world for us and hides the rest from our awareness. Just like an online algorithm, the RAS observes and records whatever we pay attention to sending us more of the same. It’s the reason “a person convinced against their will, is of the same opinion still.” No beliefs or habits can change, unless we choose to change them.
It means that what we pay attention to grows. If we focus on stories about how hard it is to raise capital, we struggle to find investors willing to listen to us. If instead, we enjoy reading inspiring biographies, we tend to meet more investors. If we pay attention to debt, we get deeper in dept. If we focus on what financial independence might feel like, we end up debt free in a blink of the eye.
Like I say, it’s simple.
The conundrum is, we are blissfully unaware of almost all of the world around us. If the 147 bits we allow in include TV headlines about recessions, stock market crashes, and geopolitical upheavel, we’ll probably never have the mentality to start a company.
Through life, our learned beliefs train the RAS to filter out almost everything that counters them. This is both an exciting and scary concept to grasp. It also offers us a clue on how to change mentality to our benefit.
Changing habits requires a high degree of discipline and practice.
The RAS is the reason you learn a new word, then start hearing it everywhere. It’s why you can tune out a crowd full of talking people, yet immediately snap to attention when someone says your name. It’s what happens when you see a car commercial that causes an emotional response. Thereafter you see that car everywhere, as if they just appeared there.
All of this happens without you even noticing. In this same way, the RAS filters out information that contradicts your philosophical, religious, and political beliefs. It filters the world through the parameters you give it, and your beliefs further shape those parameters. It helps to explain why we repeat behaviors and experiences, even if they hurt us.
The RAS creates a loop of thoughts, behaviors and, experiences. If you feel empowered, the RAS will help you continue to feel that way. If, on the other hand, you feel oppressed, the RAS works to reinforce that sensation. To choose a better life and experience, all we have to do is change what we focus on and how we emotionally react to it. Then, we can gradually change the world we experience. Bit by bit we can reprogram our RAS and swap out our limited experience for one we desire.
Recent research has revealed that this region of the brain is also responsible for bringing your mind into periods of heightened attention, alertness, or focus.
Knowing this, we can practice with tools and techniques to create more frequent heightened awareness of successful entrepreneurship. From now on you must become a voracious reader of entrepreneurial biographies, articles, online website, etc.
Not only does the RAS filter information, it also learns to identify patterns in the sensory signals transmitted through it. The reticular formation is conditioned to exclude what it observes as meaningless and repetitive signals that are deemed to be consistently unimportant. That explains why people can sleep through any kind of noise once they have become used to it. But then wake up startled to an auditory signal like a barking dog or gunshot. It also explains why we react to bad news and ignore the rest, or find ourselves drawn to complainers and away from ones with a balanced view.
It is also the reason why so many big companies are going bankrupt right now. Their leaders still see the world the way it was years ago. It is not their fault. They don’t know they need to reprogram their RAS’. (Yes there is a joke there, I’ll let you find it.)
These leaders fail to see changes going on around them. They fail to understand how cashflow management has changed drastically. They fail to see the issues of having armies of employees. They fail to understand the need to pivot quickly to match the pace of technology.
Bordered up malls and super stores are your evidence.
Okay, it is time for you to digest all this.
Knowledge rushed fades to nothing. Knowledge digested leads to wisdom. Wisdom nurtured and connected leads to power. Power targeted leads to success.
It’s essential to allow this knowledge about the RAS to sink in. Do not move on until you have taken at least an hour sitting somewhere quiet and alone to contemplate all the habitual loops that make up the old you. Consider your beliefs and where they came from. Just understanding the power of your RAS sets you free. Now you can take charge of it.
So, instead of sitting on that couch to watch a dumb news report about another recession, spend the same time reading company SEC reports on the Internet. Pick one that started in a recession.
Instead of playing another video game or losing hours on social media, read an inspiring biography about a great entrepreneur, or re-read, Three Simple Steps, A Map to Success in Business and in Life.
What you feed your RAS determines what life you will have. It is as simple as that, and also, irrefutably scientific. You can’t fight or argue against it. You just have to accept it and agree to change what you feed your brain.
Throughout the rest of this course I will refer back to the reprogramming of the RAS. It is the most important thing an entrepreneur can do.
The good ones do this all the time.
The majority of books about business are not written by entrepreneurs. Management consultants, experts, and academics usually have the most to say on what it takes to build a successful business… and why some businesses fail. How many of them have actually built a business? Very few. These people are observers and judges.
So what? We can gain a lot from their ideas. Each of them, however, is conditioned by their RAS. Unless they are aware of the RAS they will simply see the same evidence over and over. In some ways they become believers of their own bullshit. They exemplify the saying ‘A person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still.’
In my businesses I have had plenty of experience of the impact of fixed RASs. A board of directors is essentially a board of fixed RASs. So is a board of advisors. They typically see things the same way they have always seen them and their advice or guidance is restricted as a result. Investors come in all shapes and sizes. but the good ones have RASs that seek out something different and exciting. That makes them investors rather than entrepreneurs or directors.
One of the challenges of a fixed RAS is a pre-conceived notion. I remember asking a boss one time why we had to have quarterly sales meetings which meant pulling sales people out of their territory for three days to meet in a stuffy hotel ballroom. “We have always done it that way.” was the immediate answer along with an expression of incredulity that I would challenge such an obvious routine.
Another time I was fighting with the director of human resources to allow me to hire someone who did not have the minimum education requirement for the job. I had interviewed Jennifer several times and got to understand that her upbringing prevented a standard education path. The minimum requirement for the position was a science degree. There was no way her circumstances could have led to a college experience. She was, however, incredibly smart. I asked why we had a minimum qualification at the company for this position. I was told it was an industry standard. That was the reason. No thought or intellect was behind that minimum qualification… just industry standard which is a lazy term for ‘our industry RAS says it is so.’
I felt I was speaking with a programmed robot, and in many ways I was. I had to go up the food chain to get my wish to hire Jennifer approved. I fought hard for it and threatened to resign if I was blocked by dumb HR rules. At that point the HR director detested me. Jennifer, however, won sales representative of the year four years in a row. I moved on from the company with the HR director never once admitting that I had got it right.
I am no smart-arse, however, many times my RAS has locked me in a loop of false beliefs and it has taken others to knock me off my pedestal. Once I fell into the born-again Christian cult, and it took working with children suffering brain tumors to knock me off the God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform rubbish. During that period of my life I had formed the opinion that pharmaceutical sales reps were all charlatans. That was what everyone around me said and my RAS hooked onto it. I turned down umpteen opportunities to become one. What changed me was a chance encounter with a really good sales rep and I was blown away by his authenticity and knowledge.
Of course I also struggled for years to become an entrepreneur because I allowed my RAS to convince me that I was too junior in management, too inexperienced, too naive about finances. What changed my RAS here was joining an entrepreneur group. I wanted to learn more but I realized I was just as smart as everyone else in the room. My RAS hooked onto that feeling instead.
In a startup, a pre-conceived notion of how things get done can be disastrous. Instead, as entrepreneurs we need open minds. You might think you have one, but I could challenge you about all the beliefs you carry around in your head and in your life. Let’s do that now.
Homework time:
Before moving on to the next activity, please take some time out to consider what information you currently allow into your R.A.S.
What media are you exposed to? How much of your reading is sensational headlines, time-wasting video games, or shoot ’em up TV shows? How much wasted time on social media?
Write down all your beliefs about yourself in terms of whether you have what it takes to succeed. Where did those beliefs come from?
Take a pad and write down how much time a week you spend on media that is not helping you achieve dreams. When was the last time you read an inspiring biography?
Think about the people in your immediate environment at work and at home. How much time do you spend listening and then joining in with their complaining? How much do you complain?
Next go online and search for a story or biography that can inspire you this week. Set a goal to read it in place of all this wasted time.
This exercise is eye-opening for most people especially when it is compared to the habits of the successful and wealthy.
Additional homework if you choose:
In the Transformation Experience you may recall that the beginning activity is a Theta therapy style exercise. It is along these lines and if you feel the urge you might want to repeat it. Clear decks are needed to become a successful entrepreneur and that means deleting long held beliefs handed to us and digested by us. Here is a summary
On a piece of paper write out what you believe under the following topics:
•GOD• •HUMAN EXISTENCE• •THE BIG BANG• •DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION• •AGE•
•HEALTH• •POLITICS• •RELIGION• •FRIENDS• •FAMILY• •MONEY••MY ABILITIES•
•WHO I AM• •MY PURPOSE• •SEX• •THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN LIFE•
•THE PURPOSE OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE• •WHY I AM HERE AT ALL• •DEATH•
A 2020 study out of Norway suggests that handwriting and drawing engages the brain far more than typing on a keyboard, after measuring the brain activity of children and young adults performing these tasks. Throughout the Transformation Experience I suggest using pen and paper over typing on a device.
With each topic write with as little analysis as possible. Just keep the pen moving. Don’t analyze what you write as you write it. Just keep going. The feeling is like spirit writing. Free flow is what you are aiming for.
Write down what you ‘believe’ about God, Sex, My Purpose etc….Try not to judge what you write and jump from topic to topic without pause.
When you have finished (and this can be an exhausting thing to do) take a break out in nature. Find a beautiful view and a quiet space. Take some deep breaths. Quieten the mind a bit. When you are ready, read your musings from the paper.
As you read (quietly) ask yourself where those beliefs came from? Did you conclude those beliefs for yourself based on personal research and analysis or were they at one time or another handed down to you? Contemplate how you arrived at those conclusions.
When you return home, squeeze the paper into a ball and throw it in the trash. This exercise is to forget self and to open the first awakening. You have regurgitated your belief system and thrown it away. Now a NEW YOU begins. It is a YOU with an open mind, no longer polluted by the beliefs and opinions of others.
You will discover YOUR truth for YOU.
It is only after the first awakening that the arduous work begins, the work of gaining complete mastery over our whole nature.
Once the inner self has been alerted your neurons begin a sort of rebooting to a NEW YOU. The great work begins, the work of gaining mastery over your whole nature.
There Is a Road:
‘There is a Road, steep and thorny, beset with perils of every kind, but yet a Road. And it leads to the very heart of the universe. I can tell you how to find those who will show you the secret gateway that opens inwardly only, and closes fast behind the neophyte forever more. There is no danger that dauntless courage cannot conquer. There is no trial that spotless purity cannot pass through. There is no difficulty that strong intellect cannot surmount. For those who win onward, there is reward past all telling: the power to bless and save humanity. For those who fail, there are other lives in which success may come.’
-H. P. Blavatsky
