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In Return, Here's How to Acquire Some Life-Changing Insights That Will Make You Wiser, Happier, and More Successful in All Areas of Your Life.
I've got some life-changing, mind-altering, mood-changing, paradigm-shifting, success-building, and money-making Insights to share with you. Literally. But first, I want to show you one of my favorite optical illusions. This design is by Akiyoshi Kitaoka and is called Rotating Snakes. I've actually got a huge poster of this hanging on a wall in my office.
I can't tell you how many people stare at the poster on my wall, and then walk over and look behind it to see what's causing the rotation. But trust me, it isn't an animated illustration. I worked on the graphic myself in Photoshop.
Excuse my non-linear thought processes. According to my beta copy of the DSM-V, I have ADHD. That's a bunch of hooey. Most people who have been told they have ADHD are perfectly normal. Dang the psychiatrists for telling people there is something wrong with their brains when what they really have is a valuable gift for creative multitasking. But that's another subject entirely. Let me get back to the point of this squeeze page.
Insights is a free email newsletter that will teach you the secrets of human nature that were uncovered by the ancient Egyptians, passed down to the ancient Greeks (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle), stolen by the Romans, and buried throughout most of the Dark Ages. It has only been in the past century that the secrets have resurfaced to enlighten humanity. To receive these priceless gems in your inbox, just fill out the form below.
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Why the Secrets Have Been Hidden
Unfortunately, it was psychologists who re-discovered many of the secrets of human nature. And they aren't very good at sharing their secrets except with paying clients; they'll tell you anything for $150 an hour. And if they condescend to write their secrets down, they often write for their erudite colleagues and not the down-to-earth public. Plus, they're a little touchy because their profession has been relegated to a step-child status in the family of empirical science; after all, you can't touch, taste, feel, and surgically remove psychological issues. (Technically, you can, but lobotomies are out-of-vogue now-a-days thanks to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.)
Not that I have anything against psychologists. After all, I went to college to become one. But a few years after graduation, after working one-on-one with a number of individuals, I discovered that life is too short to spend it as a counselor.
I don't mean that in a mean way. It's not that I don't like people — I do (deep down inside). And it's not that I don't like solving people's problems — I'm actually pretty good at it and have spent most of my adult life doing it. But over the years, as I've picked the brains of a number of far brainier people, I've learned that there are much better ways to help people than sitting in a chair, holding a clipboard, and listening to someone complain about bad relationships.
And bad relationships are what most people complain about or stress out about. Don't you? Think about it. If you had a better relationship with your boss, you could probably negotiate a significant raise. If you had a better relationship with your customers, you could sell more widgets even when the economy tanks. If you had a better relationship with your loved ones, you wouldn't be so unhappy or frustrated. And so the list goes on and on. Heck, if Saddam Hussein had a better relationship with the Iraqi people he probably wouldn't have spent his last moments on earth looking at a noose.
Like It or Not, Life is All About Relationships
Even one of the world's most famous social critics, Henry David Thoreau, who checked out of civilization for two years to build his cabin at Walden Pond, never really stopped working on his relationships. Every week he spent a fair amount of time chatting with the locals and commiserating about the meaning of life. He couldn't survive without people. None of us can. John Donne had it right all along, even though he was hearing bells when he said, "No man is an island, entire of itself."
So, as members of the family of humanity, we're all in this boat together. We owe it to ourselves to figure out why people do the things they do and learn why they do the crazy things they do. Then, once we're empowered with that information, if we're really smart we'll alter our own behaviors so that we can maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses in order to find greater happiness and success in life.
That's all there is to it. IMHO, that is the grand secret to success: watch other people, observe what they do right, then use that knowledge to improve your own behaviors. Its a scientific process: watch, compare, evaluate, revise, and do it all over again until you get it exactly right.
Unfortunately it could take decades of trial and error for mere mortals to get it exactly right. That's why the elderly seem so wise. They've spent their lives watching and experimenting and trying to figure out life. Of course, by the time they get it figured out, no one pays any attention to them or their bodies start to fall apart. Too bad we can't shorten the learning curve, for their benefit and for ours.
How to Shorten the Learning Curve
Ah, but we can shorten the learning curve. We can learn wisdom while we're still relatively youthful. All we have to do is learn from others and use that information to improve our lives.
That's my mission, both personally and professionally. Back in 1989 I helped organize the Insight Learning Foundation. Now, my colleagues and I are privileged to spend our days and nights researching, investigating, figuring out solutions, then writing them down for other people to learn. And we publish them in the Insights newsletter. Not in a scholarly journal, not in a college textbook, not in a magazine, but in a free weekly email.
In his 1966 science-fiction novel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein repeated the following phrase a number of times: "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." Even though I liked his book, he was wrong. There is. And the lunch bell is ringing in your ears. So come and get it!
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Let Me Give You An Insight Right Now
One of my personal gurus, Dr. William Glasser, has been working on a new branch of psychology which posits that most people who suffer with mental illness (anxiety, depression, obsession, ADHD, etc.) aren't really sick at all. Unless their brain has been physically damaged by some traumatic injury or illness, most people simply choose to act in ways others find to be unhealthy. Dr. Glasser believes people act mentally unstable because they aren't getting their needs fulfilled in their personal relationships. Therefore his long-term solution to improving mental health lies in helping people choose behaviors that strengthen their relationships.
I like that approach a lot. My own experience, and probably yours, confirms that people become happier when they focus on improving their own behaviors. That's one of the reasons my colleagues and I at the Insight Learning Foundation do what we do. We want people to learn the information and practice the skills that will make them richer, happier, and more successful in life.
And I don't care where you use the knowledge and skills we're going to show you. You can use them to enhance your life at home or at work, or even both places. The secrets we're sharing can benefit you, and everyone around you, as long as you follow our counsel and focus on improving your own behaviors and not the behaviors of other people.
While we're talking about secrets, here's a secret that people may believe in but don't really apply in their lives: you can't, and shouldn't, try to control other people. Not your children. Not your spouse. Not your employees. Not your dog. Not you fellow countrymen. Relationships always fail — societies always fail — when someone seeks to force someone else to do what they think needs to be done. Control is a damning philosophy that destroys everything it touches.
The alternative to control is choice. The freedom to choose one's path in life is an inalienable right that should never be denied to anyone. About the only thing you can do is give people choices to make. And the more compelling you make those choices, the more likely they will be selected.
To illustrate what I mean, take this page you're reading right now. Based on one single mouse click on the previous page, I have a pretty good indication of your primary temperament — the personality style that is most like you. Using that information, I've written this page to appeal directly to your preferences. Hopefully, you'll be more likely to respond to my offer of a free subscription to a life-changing newsletter after reading this page then you would if you read the other three pages. That gives me an edge, a power if you will, that may seem manipulative on the surface, but is, in fact, simply delivering content the way you prefer to receive it. That's just one of the things Insights will teach you more about.
What These Insights Are Really Worth
What would it be worth to you if I could show you how to create choices that compel (not coerce) people to do what you want them to do? What if I could should you how to persuade others to do just about anything you desire? What if I could tell you exactly how to motivate someone to do something, even if they are extremely reluctant to do it?
Wouldn't that information be worth a pot of gold? Of course it would. Just look around you. These principles drive our global economy. And if you don't know them, you'll never be able to apply them to your own life.
Fortunately for you, this little nugget won't cost you a shiny dime. It's just one of the little mysteries of human nature that I'll teach you about in Insights.
Why This Isn't Another Boring Newsletter
Insights isn't just another text-filled blog. Our issues make the most of technology. We are constantly trying to stay as close to the bleeding edge without harming ourselves and our readers. Some issues will feature short audio podcasts that you can download to your portable music player. Others have video clips that you can watch on your cell phone browser or even on an old-fashioned computer that sits on top of your desk. So you are free to choose whether you want to read a few paragraphs, listen to some dialogue, or watch a video. We plan to serve up information in lots of tantalizing and state-of-the-art ways.
Some Things I'm Going to Teach Your First
Remember the Primary Color Preview you took a few minutes ago? As I alluded to earlier, that little test has already revealed a number of little-known facts about you. For instance, here's what I know, and what I will teach you to know after you subscribe to Insights:
- What values and attitudes bring you joy
- What motivates you to do the things you do
- How you prefer to communicate
- What kinds of jobs you are likely to choose
- Which marketable qualities you bring to the workplace
- What your natural strengths are as a parent
- What you were like as a child and as a teenager
- How you prefer to learn and teach information
- What will cause you the most stress in life
- What you look like when you are unhappy
- What you want from a friendship or a romantic relationship
- What roles you prefer to play in life
- What is stopping you from achieving your dreams
- Plus much, much more. I've already written hundreds of pages of really cool insights.
Its Time to Sign Up Now
Even though I'm an introvert at heart, I could go on and on about this stuff. In fact, I do go on and on in Insights. But now, at this juncture of the time-space continuum, you need to stop lurking like you usually do and jump in with both feet. If you don't like what you see and hear in our newsletter, then unsubscribe. You won't hurt my feelings. I'll just attribute your misguided action to stupidity.
I know you don't know me. You can't discern, really, if I'm making empty promises or speaking the honest truth. However, you also don't really have anything to lose but time. Gee whillikers, you've already spent 15 minutes reading this dang page and I only want you to spend 5 to 10 minutes per week reading Insights.
My colleagues and I have helped hundreds of thousands of people all around the world (I have references if you don't believe me). Therefore I know with a great deal of probability that I can help you. Especially if you have a desire to improve and the intellectual honesty to do what I ask you to do.
So once again, all I want is about 5 to 10 minutes per week, so I can show you how to solve all the problems in the world and teach you how to become master of your domain, whatever it might be.
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As a thank you for signing-up to Insights, you'll get a number of really cool bonuses. But for funsies, here's another illusion. But don't look at it if you haven't signed up!
