I just did the math in Excel and this is the result: By day 10 the penny has become $2.56, by day 20, $2,621, by day 30 $2,684,354, more than twice the million that the not so wise brother got (and he blew most of his in legal fees and bad investments.)

Jeff’s book really helped me to see that it’s not the huge break that most folks dream about that gets me down the road. It’s the little steps, sometimes baby steps, taken consistently, one after the other, towards my goal.

And the little tiny steps, seemingly inconsequential in the moment, are taking me on a long range trajectory, that is either upwards or downwards. A sailor knows that a 1/2 degree change is course may not seem like much, but 10 days later, you will be in an entirely different place.

I also learned from Jeff’s book that it’s fine to start right where you are, even if it’s with a penny (not far from the truth in my case). A steady focus and disciplined practice of increasing and doubling that penny is all you need, not a big break or windfall or winning the lottery. If the occasional breakthrough comes into the next realm, great, but it’s the baby steps that get you to the place where you are ready for that big leap forward.

And not just in money matters. A consistent habit of healthy eating and daily exercise, may not produce dramatic immediate results but years later WILL have added vibrant health to your life, one day and one little step at a time.

The Slight Edge also inspired me to try to read just 10 minutes per day of something uplifting and inspirational, which I have been doing. And to get a least 30 minutes a day of some form of exercise, walking, biking, jumping on the trampoline, whatever. These two small acts have already made a tremendous difference over the last 3 months. Oh, and a big glass of water as soon as I rise each day.

Follow this simple daily practice for a small steady improvement you may not notice right away, but like that 1/2 degree course correction, months later you will be in a different, healthier, more positive, more energized place.

The Japanese business community started a worldwide movement with a concept called Kaizen which means change for the better, or continuous improvement. They learned that even a tiny improvement each month in car manufacturing or whatever enterprise, leads to dramatic improvements over time.

The Slight Edge is a Kaizen principle of small, incremental changes in any area of life you wish to transform. I highly recommend this book to really get this concept and implement in your own life.

For some reason, the book is out of print, but you can track it down via the Amazon link here .

Setting A Believable Goal

I showed this site to my life coach Marilyn O’Mally and she told me I need to set a lower, more believable goal because a million is just too much for my poverty consciousness to fathom and believe. I agree. However, I CAN believe this:

Double my income to $10k/month by Sept 30th or sooner (or better)

After that, I will set my sights on doubling that number again to $20k per month and so on. My goal will be to keep doubling until I reach my Million. As the wiser son did with his penny.

BTW, I was inspired by this concept and a Google Adwords Guru Perry Marshall to name my web marketing company Kaizen Internet Marketing . When working with adwords ads or web page conversion rates, the same principle holds true: tiny improvements in click through rates can double or quadruple your results over time. I have achieved this for my clients using simple split testing strategies. Click the link above for more info.

In business, you do not have to be lightyears ahead of your competition, you just need to be slightly better to win and there again is the Slight Edge philosophy.

I just heard Michael speak here in Santa Barbara Wed night and he was funny and profound as always. He said the Kingdom (as opposed to "the Boredom") was truly at hand, no matter what your experience is. The key in fact is surrendering to the truth of your own experience and not trying to have any other experience or anyone else’s experience. This may mean facing and dealing with uncomfortable feelings. Great! In fact, these feelings are what he calls our "Daily Bread" - they are nourishing as we simply sit with them and digest and integrate them ("into great" them) into our lives.

Do not try to change them or "do anything", simply listen like a song on the radio or watch like a bird in a tree, and hold and cradle that experience like a Madonna with child. In this way, my repressed and frozen anger can be a more natural self assertion to act in the world. My unintegrated grief can become a capacity to feel deeply without getting thrown off balance.  My integrated fear becomes an ability to make clear decisions in the moment.

And there is nothing we have to "DO". The awakening we seek comes from relaxing into Being and giving up the compulsion to do, do, do. Action is great but must come from the deeper place of Being. This is the key to entering the Kingdom. We must become like a child again, in the state of simple Being. And there is an internal "sun" that shines on and supports our vibrational Being as surely as the physical sun shines on our bodies. If we are open to receive it. And for this sun, there is no order of difficulty.

That is a short introduction to the work of Michael Brown. It is important to my zero to a million work as it is helping go to the heart of my current experience of Poverty and lack. I see now how I have created this experience out of an unconscious rebellion again my parents. I had been saying, in effect: "You want me to be successful and effective in the world? Well, fuck you, you abandoned me and I’ll show you by being a nobody, a screw up." All of this under the surface of consciousness, of course. So one day last month, I had this awareness doing the Presence work and cried deep tears to see it and feel it. Inside, I choose to forgive my parents for their crimes of omission and decided to say "I love you" instead of "Fuck you". This has been a profound shift I am still integrating into my day to day awareness. No longer needing to GET, I am choosing to GIVE the unconditional love that I did not receive - to myself, my parents and all others in my life. As Micheal said in his typical play on words:

Unconditional Love is for giving
Unconditional love is forgiving

And since it all comes down to relationship with God or Reality or Source or whatever you choose to call it, I am also opening to the experience of a benign and loving presence that really wants me to be happy and successful in all the ways of being fulfilled. My core gifts are not being fully expressed as long as I am struggling in survival mode. So, am moving from relating to God as at best uncaring and at worst, hostile to me, to a loving, friendly, and ultimately supportive presence that is wanting my return to Bliss and Presence.

I highly recommend you check out his website and buy his book .

This is from the intro to his site:

We are each endowed with the capacity to be responsible for the quality our experience. However, until consciously impacted with our compassionate awareness, our unintegrated fear, anger, and grief continues to function as the unconscious causal point of our outer disharmony, discomfort, disease, and delusion. By continuing to suppress and sedate our unintegrated emotional condition - and instead allowing ourselves to be emotionally carried by anyone or anything - we remain a species that is inauthentic, out of integrity, and lacking in the emotional capacity to contain an awareness of what we are or what God is for us. Only by developing our capacity to feel are we delivered beyond this predicament.

I am loving a new book by Marci Shimoff (author of Chicken Soup for the Womans Soul) called Happy for No Reason. It’s easy enough to be happy when everything is going your way, Marci says, but the real deal and the more abiding, deeper happiness is the kind you can have no matter what is going on in your life.

And ironically, you get to greater happiness by nurturing the happiness and gratitude you already have. Not by wanting or focusing on what you lack, but by appreciating and being thankful for what you have. And it’s not the things we think we need that lead to happiness, in any case.

As Albert Schweitzer said:

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

The quotes are alone worth getting this book. Here’s a good one from this morning’s reading on the subject of purpose:

the important thing is not to think much but to love much, and so do that which best stirs you to love.

-St. Teresa of Avila, sixteenth century Spanish nun and mystic

This short song I wrote was inspired by this book and gives you a taste of it. A few flat notes but hey, I’m happy being imperfect. A Mac Garageband production actually recorded in my garage earlier today. Enjoy!

This book is important on my path because it is helping me pull out of my low income funk to tap into the natural, inherent joy that I just have by virture of being alive. This joy and connecting to a purpose greater than myself will be key elements to lifting me out of the poverty zone and opening to the flow of love and money and abundance that is all around me.

See Marci’s site for more info. Get on her email list for some inspiring messages and free gifts:

http://www.happyfornoreason.com

The concept of HUB, or Humanity Unites Brilliance is similar in that you are invited to share this wonderful membership opportunity with 3 others, who share with 3 others etc. Yes, it has a MLM component but if there was ever a great reason for MLM, this is it. And it’s based on integrated humanitarian aid (mostly to Africa just now) and personal empowerment training from the likes of Jean Houston and Michael Beckwith and Mark Victor Hanson. The core vision being to transform the consciousness of the planet to create a world that truly does work for everyone. Oh yes, and you can also make a lot of money with HUB. For more information, see: www.hubheaven.com

Factoid: What if you gave a message to 2 people and they immediately told 2 people and they etc etc. How long would it take to reach the entire world? the answer: 33 days! how cool is that! How connected are we?

I mostly agree with this review on the movie:

PAY IT FORWARD is a feel-good family story about a social studies teacher, Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey), who challenges his 11-year-old students to come up with an idea that will change the world. Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) decides to step up to the plate. His idea is a game called ‘pay it forward.’ In the game, every time somebody does a favor for you, you ‘pay it forward’ to three other people. Surprisingly, the idea seems to work, helping his teacher to come out of his shell and reveal a dark past, and bringing his mother, Arlene McKinney (Helen Hunt)–who works two jobs to keep their household afloat–new freedom.

I am very proud and excited to share big news with you.

Work Pain Free, my first online Info Product has just been released. I have partnered with a nationally reknowned ergonomics expert Barry Carlin and over the last 6 months, we have created this product together.

Barry developed and has taught workshops to thousands of computer users in the workplace over the last 14 years. The result has been a consistent 50-90% reduction in injuries, with folks feeling better and being far more productive.

Work Pain Free is this entire workshop, presented in an easy to learn online format you can can learn at your own pace. The entire program is just over an hour.
Anyone that uses the simple techniques taught will feel better the first day they apply them, will prevent injury, have less fatigue working, will go home with more energy to enjoy life, and will be far more productive.

I invite you to go to www.workpainfree.com, and you can experience an entire training on customizing your keyboard, wrist rest and mouse for FREE! This is one of the 9 chapters in the entire Work Pain Free program.

I promise you that what you learn will have you feeling better immediately.

Do check it out and if you love it and want to pass it on (which we think you will), we also have a great affiliate program where you can earn 50% of each sale. Refer just 2 friends and you get yours free!

So, what are you waiting for?

Go here now and start reducing your computer stress right away.

www.workpainfree.com