For now,
Travis

John Carlton replies:

And a jigger or two of Plymouth gin, of course.

Have fun on the Busted Flush… and say “hi” to Meyer for me…

I was never the introvert but I was always on the outside. As a kid I was an immigrant and I talked funny.

Try talking in a Somerset accent in rural New Zealand if you’re mad keen on exploring the meaning of bigoty.

It’s not easy being different never mind feeling different.

By the age of 9, I had a full blown speech impediment which just got worse because the other kids took the piss something chronic.

My defining moment came when I said screw it to all of them and came to live somewhere really weird. You don’t get to be much more foreign than in Thailand and hey it’s still a challenge.

Life is challenging. The trick is to front up to it and just do what you gotta do and then do it some more. AND never stop.

I still have my introvert tendencies but they no longer rule me.

I have also re-cut the jigsaw of my personality and now I stand in front of crowds training people how to get over their own shit.

Anything is possible if your head is in the right place and you’re motivated enough.

Michael

Hua Hin, Thailand

PS keep posting this sort of stuff as it’s what folks need to hear

PPS just keep posting

You are dead-on accurate! It is very much about cajones and being able to set fear aside, embrace your inner Dr. Smooth and go get it. My other persona is Maww by the way. She’s a serious ballbuster and I mean that in the best possible way.

I have had a few fear-shaking moments of my own this summer and am happy to say I’ve stepped up to the challenge, despite an inner voice that wondered if I was really good enough.

Thankfully I beat that voice into submission and despite being a similar introvert as you, I happily command center stage at my writing workshops and networking presentations. And with more practice and experience I’ll continue to do so.

Thanks for sharing - so happy to hear other people have had similar experiences and have grown from them. Keep at it - persistence beats all!

Lara

I used to be a real nutcase… couldn’t talk or respond to a girl without my head turning tomato-red, breaking out into sweat, stutterin and shakin. Couldn’t face my fears, drinking and smoking (desperately trying to be cool). Dropped out of school, alienated all my friends and ended up doing dead end jobs.

But always enjoyed reading, so one day I read one of Tony Robbins’ books and caught fire. Promised to train my “decision muscle” and got a comission job selling newspaper subscriptions on the street.

Boy, I remember that first day: a stack of newspapers, a couple of order forms in my hand and a pen in my pocket… standing there, talking to my colleagues for two hours (funny enough, I didn’t know them neither, but somehow it seemed a lot safer to talk to them than to talk strangers into signing up). Finally, one of the team came over and said: “Ok, get started. This one!” And he pointed to some dude walking down the street, so I went, all shaking and sweating with pictures of war in my head and the words “You wanna…” silently slipped out of my mouth while he walked by. I was scared shit.

But I advanced in small steps. Fast forward a couple of weeks, I figured that pretending seems to kind of work. So, I decided to PRETEND to be confident and joyful and magnetic… and people started signing up and I started making like $100 a day in commission which was pretty good for that time and job.

That was a couple of years ago and having travelled quiet a bit and meeting lots of awesome people, things got easier.

I still gotta make a conscious effort to “get out of my head”. I still feel awkward in many social situations. But I know it’s just a question of being more persistent with getting over it than giving into it.

I have done the stage thing once and thought I was going to die but I had their attention from the second I opened my mouth till long after it was all over.

Even commenting on a blog is something I would never do but I thought since you have been a defining moment in not only my professional life but my personal life as well. I would stop and say “thanks,” and keep up the great work.

Should also mention that I am loving Jeff Johnson’s program Glad you were a JV on that deal or I would have never bumped into that guy.

So here is a topic for you that I am curious about what is it that takes guys like you and Jeff and the countless others out there to go from a point of just being A JV or in your case a freelancer to putting your own product together?

Is it just the money, or is there something deeper that actually drives you to do it?

I have some great ideas but, there are people in those markets doing a great job I just look at them and can see the refinements that need to be made because they are stumbling blocks for the average person trying to make a go of it.

I can’t bring myself to putting it together, is it another personality flaw I should tack on the with the encyclopedia I already carry around, or does it ultimately manifest itself and become a driving force to do something to benefit the others rather than sit back and do the marketing to make the money and never get involved on a personal level?

Dave

Favorite line: “Life rocks when you re-cut the jigsaw of your personality” Think I’ll make that my desktop wallpaper - just to remind me of everything you’ve said here.

I don’t always have time to read your posts completely (long ones, they are) but, this one - I could NOT STOP reading! I think I wanted it to go on more! Ha!

Tweeted your post, I do so hope people listen to me and come read!!

I cannot believe you went to school with Peggy, too!

Thanks for the jolt of great writing. It’s goes nicely with the freshly ground java in jump-starting my day.

Always a pleasure to read!

Lisa