The Power of Perception: Changing Lives Gradually

The Pacific Institute's course equipped individuals with tools for personal growth, leading to remarkable career and life transformations.

### Overcoming Comfort Zones and Blind Spots for Personal Growth
* 😌 Gradually and incrementally, we build **comfort zones**, which are the **boundaries within which we feel safe and acceptable**.
* 👀 Blind spots are habits, objects, and perceptions that are accepted as okay because of **gradual and incremental change**.
* 🕰 "The conscious and the subconscious mind cannot be in continual conflict. They must **agree with each other**."
* 🕊 "We can change our negative unconscious thinking and turn ourselves into success-oriented people, but we have to do it **gradually and incrementally**."
* To overcome comfort zones, we need to "pick our comfort zones carefully because we'll be in them for the rest of our lives unless we want to **change them**."
* 🛋 ️ "Most couch potatoes don't know they're **couch potatoes**."
* 🏃 "She had to get off the couch to start her new business. Most couch potatoes don't know they're **couch potatoes**."

### Keys to Success: Traits, Blind Spots, and the Reticular Activating System
* 🎯 Success is achievable by everyone, defined by **self-esteem**, and unique to **each individual**.
* 📝 To succeed, one must **plan, be willing to learn, commit to excellence, and strive to be the best**.
* Successful people share eight common traits: a **strong sense of purpose**, a **commitment to excellence**, a **willingness to learn**, a **desire to be the best**, a **sense of urgency**, a **willingness to take risks**, a **positive attitude**, and the **ability to adapt to change**.
* 👀 Blind spots can hinder success by **limiting one's perspective and awareness**.
* 🤖 The reticular activating system helps filter information based on its perceived value, reinforcing **one's beliefs and decisions**.
* 🏨 The quality of customer service at Texaco and Marriott demonstrates how **individual actions and attitudes can significantly impact the customer experience**.
* 🥪 Marriott's effective handling of a catering mistake showcases the importance of **owning up to mistakes** and **taking proactive steps to rectify them**.

### The Eight Success Traits for Achieving Personal and Professional Growth
* 🎯 Successful individuals have a sense of purpose, knowing **where they are going and how to get there**.
* They are committed to excellence, believing that **one person can make a difference**.
* 🤝 Successful people contribute to their **families, companies, communities, and countries**.
* 🔑 They accept responsibility, understanding that "**if it is to be, it's up to me**".
* 💪 Putting in extra effort is crucial, recognizing that an **8-hour day is just for survival**.
* ⏰ Effective time management involves knowing how time is spent and being **comfortable with it**.
* 📚 Self-development is essential, as you are your own company, selling yourself based on **education, skills, experience, and reputation**.
* Persistence is key, as successful individuals just **hang in there**, like Milton Colt with Thousand Trails and Horizon Air.

### The Power of Setting and Achieving Goals
* 🎯 Goals are set for us by various entities, such as family, friends, and schools, and they shape our **self-perception and reality**.
* 🔒 Fear of failure, driven by past failures and negative self-talk, often prevents people from **setting goals**.
* To set goals, one must first identify priorities and develop a **worthy vision** that they are willing to **pay the price for**.
* 💬 "**Self-talk equals self-image equals performance**." Positive self-talk leads to a **high self-image** and **good performance**.
* 🔀 The subconscious mind, which cannot differentiate between fact and fiction, must be continuously overridden by **reinforcing the vision through the conscious mind**.
* 🔍 Use the **reticular activating system** to seek out solutions, develop an action plan, and ask "**who, what, when, where, why, and how**."
* 🔁 Once a clear vision is established, one must become very **dissatisfied with the old reality** to drive change.
* 🎉 Celebrate all successes, no matter how small, to signal to the subconscious mind that **one knows how to achieve goals**.

How to Suceed

Timesaver PC

The Transformational Power of Personal Development

A personal development course led to a dramatic improvement in an individual's life, as seen through a significant increase in wealth and possessions.

The concepts taught in the course also had a profound impact on the growth and success of various companies, leading to substantial revenue growth and expansion.

The course focused on key concepts such as the conscious and subconscious mind, perceptions, comfort zones, and success traits, emphasizing the idea that what the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

Sending negative signals to the subconscious mind can lead to inaction.

Gradual and incremental training is key to changing subconscious thinking.

Repetition and practice can lead to the subconscious mind taking over tasks effortlessly, as seen in the examples of tying shoes and driving a car.

Our subconscious mind often takes over, impacting our actions and decisions without us realizing it.

Negative experiences in our past can create a deficiency motivation that holds us back from taking risks or pursuing opportunities.

These early experiences can lead to a fear of failure and missed opportunities in our adult lives, as the subconscious mind accepts these negative beliefs as facts.

Deficiency motivation can have a lasting impact, causing some individuals to avoid new opportunities after facing rejection.

Negative experiences often replay in our minds, holding us back from success.

Comfort zones, although familiar, can limit our potential for growth and success, but gradually expanding them can lead to significant achievements.

Roger Bannister's breaking of the 4-minute mile barrier demonstrates how changing beliefs can lead to remarkable performance improvements.

Gradual and incremental change makes behaviors acceptable, whether it's being late or untidy.

This acceptance is driven by the subconscious mind's need for internal balance.

Different people in the same environment can have opposite behaviors based on their acceptance of gradual change.

A story about realizing and overcoming personal blind spots and comfort zones, using examples of a couch potato realizing her habits and a person's misperception of being a runner.

The speaker also discusses the insidiousness of blind spots in companies, emphasizing the need to recognize and challenge established ways of thinking.

The audience is then prompted to reflect on their own blind spots through interactive exercises, encouraging them to think differently and consider new possibilities.

Expanding Your Perception and Challenging Reality

Challenging your perception can help you avoid blind spots and see the bigger picture.

Your perception shapes your reality, but it's important to question and validate it.

The stories shared illustrate how perceptions can impact reality and the importance of keeping an open mind.

Perceptions can lead to different realities and outcomes, as seen in the example of a misunderstanding leading to legal issues.

The reticular activating system plays a crucial role in filtering information and reinforcing our beliefs, as demonstrated through the experience of buying a new car and the awareness of a watch's details.

Our perceptions not only shape our reality but also influence the way we seek validation for our decisions and process the information around us.

The Importance of Purpose and Excellence in Success

The reticular activating system prioritizes value, causing people to focus on validation rather than the time.

Success is achievable for anyone and is not solely defined by financial wealth.

Success is a balance of career, finances, family, health, and spirituality, with basic requirements including planning, willingness to learn, commitment, and the desire for excellence.

The Impact of Personalized Customer Service

Personalized customer service can make a huge difference in a customer's experience, as seen in the contrast between Texaco and a small 76 gas station in Baker Oregon.

The story highlights how the attitude and care of one person at the 76 station had a significant positive impact on the customer.

Additionally, the anecdote about the Rada Inn and Double Tree Hotel emphasizes the importance of competent and accommodating service in the hospitality industry.

A guest experiences multiple frustrations at a hotel, from check-in to late checkout refusal.

In contrast, a seamless and pleasant experience at Marriott highlights the importance of efficient and courteous service.

Marriott's effective handling of a catering mistake demonstrates the impact of excellent customer service in resolving issues and winning customer loyalty.

The Power of Customer Service: Lessons from Different Companies

Trend West struggled with providing refunds, while Nordstrom's generous refund policy set a high standard.

A small company's success was attributed to a focus on service, in contrast to Kmart's lack of customer care, leading to a lost customer for 15 years.

Sam Walton's focus on service and security gave Walmart a competitive edge over Kmart.

The key success traits highlighted in the speech are excellence in customer service, making a contribution to families and communities, and accepting personal responsibility.

The speech emphasizes the importance of individual effort in achieving success and the avoidance of excuses.

Successful people take responsibility for their actions and don't make excuses.

Financial success requires more than just an 8-hour workday, and additional effort is necessary to get ahead.

Time management is about being aware of one's actions, rather than following a rigid schedule from a class.

Proper time management is crucial for success, involving setting priorities and goals.

It is important to use time wisely and take immediate action, rather than procrastinating.

Self-development and building a strong reputation are also key factors in achieving success, along with persistence and the ability to overcome obstacles.

A customer decides to boycott a gas station but changes his mind when the owner washes his car windows, showing the impact of personal connection.

The key to success is taking responsibility, putting in extra effort, and practicing time management and self-development.

Establishing long-term goals and visions is crucial for personal and professional growth, and the exercise of envisioning life at 65 is highlighted as a valuable tool for creating a long-term vision.

The Importance of Setting Long-Term Goals

Setting long-term goals is crucial for a well-planned future and retirement, as demonstrated by Rene's grandfather.

Goals are constantly being set for us by various sources, but it's important to set our own positive and exciting goals to shape our reality.

The fear of failure often holds people back from setting long-term goals, stemming from past experiences of not achieving them.

Our subconscious mind can be filled with thoughts of failure, which can lead to a mindset of giving up.

Setting goals requires prioritizing, developing a worthy vision, and being willing to pay the price for that vision.

It's crucial to ask ourselves if we are truly willing to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve our goals.

The Power of Making a Total Commitment to Your Vision

Making a total commitment to your vision is crucial, as it keeps your subconscious mind from talking you out of it.

Visualizing your vision clearly and using all your senses helps to make it automatic and overcome negative thoughts.

Utilizing your reticular activator can help you develop an action plan and find creative solutions to achieve your vision.

Overcoming the Conflict Between Conscious and Subconscious Minds

Reinforcing your vision through your conscious mind is crucial to overcoming the conflict with your subconscious mind.

The gap between your current reality and your vision needs to be addressed through negotiation and shared common vision.

Developing positive self-talk or affirmations is essential in reinforcing the desired picture and changing your comfort zone.

Positive self-talk leads to a high self-image and good performance, creating a cycle of success.

Dissatisfaction with the old self-image drives the need for change and improvement.

External factors, such as the influence of others and societal pressure, can strongly impact an individual's self-perception and behavior.

Get dissatisfied with the old and create a conflict to drive towards a clearer vision.

Document your vision specifically in the past tense, assign responsibilities, establish timetables, and use positive self-talk.

Don't let setbacks stop you, celebrate successes, and use basic affirmations to develop positive self-talk.

The conscious and subconscious mind control everything we do, our perceptions shape our reality, and setting goals is crucial for change.