Crooked Twisdom
Here are some of my recent tweets for those of you who aren’t following me on twitter and may have missed them:
If we wish to maximize our ability to influence people, we must first recognize the futility of trying to control them.
To create powerful material, you must be honest. To sell a lot of material, you must be full of shit. Do both, and you’re a genius.
Until we embrace the theatre of life, we will be no match for the brutality of life.
Since I can’t seem to take my own advice, I’m going to stop offering advice. And if you were smart, you’d do the same.
Try as you might, you will never dissuade me from believing in the power of sheer stubbornness.
A sense of humor may be no match for reality, but if it fights like a girl and lands a lucky shot here and there, I wouldn’t bet against it.
When life deals you a big pile of shit, throw it at people who stare at you. That’s what monkeys do and they always seem pretty happy.
You can go a long way with honesty. You can go a lot farther with honesty and a joke.
I believe almost everything in life has comic potential. My goal is to find it, take a hit, then pass it along to the next guy.
I’ll post more from time to time here on my blog but if you want to catch them all, follow me on twitter.
If you don’t want to join twitter but still want to keep up with my tweets, you can sign up for the RSS feed at the bottom of my profile page.
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 02:19 PM
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One Sentence Persuasion just got more persuasive
It only took 3 years but I’ve finally finished updating and expanding my One Sentence Persuasion Course and have turned it into a one hour MP3.
You can still get the free PDF version here, but if you want the latest version which includes an all-new TWO WORD persuasion strategy, it’ll cost ya. 
Don’t worry. It’s not much.
Get more info here: Updated and Expanded One Sentence Persuasion
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:12 AM
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The Guru Game
The Players:
Guru: a person who devotes his life to figuring out new ways to convince others he already has life figured out.
Disciple: a person who devotes his life to discovering new ways to prevent himself from learning the definition of a guru.
Dumbass: a person who devotes his life to exposing and mocking the guru game instead of shutting his mouth and profiting from it.
How to Play:
Everyone joins hands and spins in circles. The game ends when the money stops flowing. The guru always wins, but there is good clean fun to be had by all.
Want to play? I’ll be the dumbass, as usual.
Posted on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 08:42 AM
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Spontaneous Social Persuasion
On Monday, June 16, 2008, at 5:06 PM, I posted the following on Twitter:
Wow. There are some really sick people on twitter. Do me a favor: If you know of any others, let me know so I can follow them too.
At 8:45, a man I’d never heard of before named Wayne Porter responded:
I am not sick, but moderately (yet functionally) deranged. That qualify?
A few tweets and a couple of hours later we picked up the phone and had a mind-blowing 2 hour conversation.
At 1:00 AM the call ended. And my bewilderment began.
In just over 4 hours Wayne and I went from never having made contact to engaging in one of the deepest conversations I’ve had in a very long time. But how?
Before social media like Twitter existed, there’s no telling how much longer it would have taken for us to develop such a relationship. Days, weeks, months? Possibly never?
And yet, without any premeditated attempt to make a “deep connection” on either of our parts, Twitter made it possible for us to almost fall into what promises to be a very beneficial relationship for both of us.
And the feeling is apparently mutual. Wayne has blogged about this encounter here.
I’m not sure either one of us fully understands the social dynamics that made this encounter possible. But I’m certain neither of us was aware of the social dynamics as our encounter unfolded. It just unfolded. Spontaneously. Courtesy of Twitter.
And while relationships that develop at breakneck speeds via social networks may not be the norm yet, they soon will be.
If you’re not convinced, just wait. There’s no telling where that next tweet may lead you.
PS. While Wayne initially responded to my “sick tweet” mentioned earlier, he told me he actually decided to learn more about me after reading an earlier tweet of mine on persuasion.
Point being, you may never know what will lead to that next profitable relationship. But you can bet it’s likely to be something you’ll have said quite spontaneously somewhere in the world of social media.
Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 11:17 PM
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Getting down to business
As many of you know, I’ve been torn about the future of my blog. And in some respects, about the future of my writing as well.
But no more.
After a tremendous amount of introspection, and with the help of a few of my twitter friends, (Yes, I’m back on twitter. Sue me.), I’ve made some decisions. And here they are:
1. I’m no longer going to write as a hobby. From now on, I’m treating writing as a business. Period.
2. I’m no longer going to blog on a regular basis unless it ties into a formal (i.e. paying) project - or I just get really worked up about something.
3. This site and all my past articles will continue to be available, but updates will be infrequent and the nature of the site will change over time. (I’ve already added a “store” link above. But there’s not much there yet. Keyword: yet.)
4. While I am going to treat my writing as a business, I refuse to go into the “guru” business. Though my material will clearly cover some of the same terrain “gurus” do, I don’t see myself as someone with all the answers or solutions to others’ problems.
Even if I did, I doubt it would be of much help; I’m convinced the best way to improve our lives is not to swoon over another’s wisdom but to do the work necessary to develop our own. Others can help us do that, but they can’t do that for us.
5. While I’m continuing to work on my book, Spin and Grow Rich: The Art of Turning (Almost) Anything to Your Advantage, I’m also writing a new special report and an updated/expanded audio version of the One Sentence Persuasion Course.
The book is a ways off, but the reports should be done in the very near future. Stay tuned for details.
6. I am planning to conduct an ongoing series of teleseminars dedicated to exploring many of the ideas I have found most valuable.
There are few things I love more than engaging in powerful conversations and exploring fascinating ideas with others. And these calls would be a platform for just that.
There will be a charge to participate in these calls, (remember, I’m no longer doing this work as a hobby), but it won’t be outrageous and the calls won’t be designed to upsell you on some other product or service.
If you’d be interested in participating in a series of calls like this, please let me know. While I plan to put them together regardless, I may make them a higher priority if enough people are already interested.
Finally, if you aren’t already following me on twitter, you might want to check it out. I’ve posted some pretty cool stuff over there and continue to be amazed how much you can pack into just 140 characters if you really try.
In fact, I’m putting together some of my best posts for a possible “Twisted Tweet” collection. You can see some I’ve picked out by visiting my twitter profile and clicking on my favorites link.
PS. I’ve returned to using my original slogan: straight thoughts on effective living in a defective world. Despite its wordiness, I think it’s the best description of crooked wisdom I can come up with.
Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008 at 07:54 PM
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