Monday, September 24, 2007

Issue 436 - Just Another Manic Monday

Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.

The title of this week's missive is a nice little leader into one of my favourite topics - luck.
Luck plays a big part in goal achievement, and it's often stated that 'you create your own luck.'
Throw in another oft-quoted, er, quote that 'luck is when opportunity meets preparation,' give me a 15 minute interval and I can talk for 2 hours on it!

You don't have to listen to me for 2 hours though, Im going to write a little about it, using one of my favourite subjects - music.
I saw a documentary about how various girl groups had got together, and I want to focus on 2 of them, The Supremes and The Bangles.

The Supremes had put themselves together, and were constantly hassling the record companies to get signed.
In particular they spent a lot of time hanging around Motown Records, which was already big enough, but not yet massive.
Not only did they not get signed, they were told that they were nothing more than a nuisance and should go away.

They didn't go away.
Was that determination, or just unrealistic of them?

Well, one day there was a recording session booked, but the backing singers hadn't turned up.
The Motown people were desperate to find someone, and who did they think of?
That group literally standing outside!

The Supremes did the session, and got signed.
They weren't an immediate success though, in fact they rather became the laughing stock of the label for not having a hit.

The boss decided they needed an image change, so he changed their image, changed their sound, and they went on to be one to the best selling girl groups ever!

How lucky were they?
Very, but that 'luck' would not have happened to them had they not made themselves known at Motown and been in the right place when opportunity came.

On to The Bangles...
I saw them do a gig in my home town before they were massive.
It was a pokey little club, very intimate. The crowd weren't really interested in this American girl group, but they were rocking, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

They were another band that had put themselves together and gone on the road, putting in the hard work to get noticed.
They came to the attention of Prince, who would regularly turn up at their gigs and get on stage with them!

The band's record label wanted the band to go a bit more mainstream, slightly less rocky, and Prince was only too happy for them to record a song he wrote - Manic Monday.
Of course it was a huge hit all over the world, and The Bangles were in the big time.

As it happened, musical differences took over, and by the time they recorded that wedding favourite 'Eternal Flame' they weren't even talking to each other, with all the parts recorded separately!

So, were they lucky to record one of Prince's songs?
Yes, but they got to that luck by putting in the work, taking action to get themselves noticed.

Just the same as The Supremes had done 20 years previously.

It works, believe me I know.
I worked at EMI records for 6 years, and got that job by following the same principles.
Not by singing I hasten to add, you can read more about it my motivational book, link below.

People might say 'that luck doesn't happen to me,' and they may be right.
I wrote a song called 'Manic Tuesday', but it never took off.

Obviously these opportunities cannot happen to everyone, but they most certainly will *not* come along if you take no action at all.

Action has the power to change your life, it's that simple.
Ok, that's it for this week - what kind of luck are you setting yourself up for?

'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you know anyone else who you think would enjoy the
Great Gordino Newsletter, please pass it on to them!
Transform Your Life In 21 Days:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com/

How Goal Achievement Changed My Life Up To 40:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/40+/

How to make money from music:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/music

Grab my free 8 Step Goal Achievement Plan by sending a blank
email to:
mailto:transform@getresponse.com

Monday, September 17, 2007

Issue 435 - Ron Dennis Would Have Lost Us The Olympics

Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.

I couldn't quite decide which topic to go with this week (no change there then), so I've rather sneakily decided to merge 2 together, and I've called it
'Ron Dennis Would Have Lost Us The Olympics'

'Who is Ron Dennis?' might be the first question that springs to mind, and fair enough, so here we go...

Ron Dennis is the boss of the McLaren Formula 1 team.
They were fined $100 million this week over a spying scandal in the sport.
(By the way, note the good marketing here by the governing body, there is only 1 race in the USA, and yet the fine is in dollars.
Why? Because $100 million is a better headline than £49 million that's why)

Ok, where was I..?
Oh yes, the reason the whole affair came to the attention of the governing body, was because Ron Dennis rung them up and told them!
He was effectively being blackmailed by his own driver Fernando Alonso, who had said that if he didn't get what he wanted, then damaging info on the computer would be revealed.

Dennis was having none of that, and promptly got on the phone.
This was the first he had known of the events, and he has always stated that he bases everything he does on integrity.
He says it's the most important thing to him, more so than the sport he's in, or anything else he hapens to be involved in.
That intergrity has cost his team $100 million (£49 million.)

So how does that affect the London 2012 Olympics?
Er, it doesn't, but it does tie in with a documentary I watched about the costing for the games.

There was a big hoo ha over here when the government revealed that the budget had gone from around 3 billion up to 9 billion.
This program showed documents and interviews which suggested the government knew all along that this would be the case.

Some simple facts bear this out.
When France bid for the 2008 games, they priced it at 2.5 billion.
This was with all the stadia built, plus the transport structures, plus the athletes village.
London has none of these, and yet priced their bid at not much higher for the 2012 games.

Logic red flag there...
Of course now the games have been awarded, the money has to be found, and despite a major foundation of our bid being the boost it would give to grass roots sport, the very government body with the responsibility of that grass roots development has had its' budget decimated, to find the extra money to stage the games.

Hmm...
It must be said that the TV program comes from a stable that has a reputation for being negative, and of course statistics can be manipulated, but doesn't it seem that winning the games for London was more of a kudos thing for the individuals concerned rather than a benefit for the country?

Did the people involved show the integrity that Ron Dennis did?
I suspect that had he been involved, he would have said 'this is no good', and we would have lost the games, which looks like it might not have been such a bad thing.

You know I'm a big fan of personal integrity, I talk about it in my book (link below!)
I try to live my life based on it, I think if more people did then we'd all be better for it, so it's a plus for Ron Dennis in my book.

Ok, that's it for this week - how is your own integrity level?

'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you know anyone else who you think would enjoy the
Great Gordino Newsletter, please pass it on to them!
Transform Your Life In 21 Days:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com

How to make money from niche marekting:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/nicheriches.html

Grab my free 8 Step Goal Achievement Plan by sending a blank
email to:
mailto:transform@getresponse.com

Monday, September 10, 2007

Issue 433 - Remembering Rick Rescorla

Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.

A couple of points from last week's issue, and a point revisited from two years and 100 issues ago.
Read to the end for that one, it'll make your day feel better I assure you.

Last week I pointed out that getting into September meant we *still* had a third of the year to go to achieve things.
If 2007 was going to be your year to do whatever, and it hasn't been so far, take those first steps, you still have plenty of time left.
I have a new idea brewing myself, and as you know, my ideas tend to get acted on...

I got some emails after my article about a woman's favourite colour being pink.
Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against pink, paricularly if it's strawberry blancmange or angel delight...

No, my point was about independent thought, and one emailer told me that she found as a rule that women covered in all things pink and fluffy were generally the thick ones, who had no idea about bucking stereotype and thinking for themselves.
Probably true - yes of course it's possible that independent thinking women *decide* that pink and fluffy is the way for them, but they'd be the rarity.

Anyway you get the point, and I want link it to a documentary I saw, about a mother who had pushed her way of thinking onto her daughters, but they were showing signs of independent thought.

This particular family has been the subject of documentaries before - the twin daughters were in a band with a deliberately provocative name connected to the holocaust, and the mother is a white supremicist.
She says she isn't she just wants her country to be kept for just the 'people who belong there', and maintains that she is entitled to her right to free speech.
(lucky she doesn't live under a regime where free speech gets you lined up and shot then, eh! She might not find it so attractive then)

In this new documentary, the daughters are older, and show the power of independent thought.
They clearly only feel free to speak their own mind when their mother is not around, and always look around to see where she is before they speak candidly.
It's clear from what they say that they don't really have the same beliefs as their mother, and would much rather not be involved.
Good for them.

They may end up having the same beliefs eventually, but they are showing that even if the most dominated environments, freedom of thought cannot be stifled, its' power cannot be taken away.
Using this kind of idea in your own life, and backing it up with action can, I promise you, take you places you'd never have imagined.

Ok, back in 2005, I called Issue 332 of this newsletter 'Remembering Rick Rescorla.
If you don't know who Rick Rescorla was, or what he did that is so worthy of repeating 2 years later, then read the archive issue:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/120905.html

It's a life affirmer -it makes me feel better about things, life, people etc, and focuses on the positive, I think it'll do the same for you today as much as it did then.

Ok, that's it for this week -
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you know anyone else who you think would enjoy the
Great Gordino Newsletter, please pass it on to them!

Transform Your Life In 21 Days:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com/


How to make money from sport:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/sport


Grab my free 8 Step Goal Achievement Plan by sending a blank
email to:
mailto:transform@getresponse.com

Monday, September 03, 2007

Issue 431 - A Woman's Favourite Colour - Yellow?

Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are, as we crack into the 3rd, er, 3rd of the year.
It might feel as though the year is coming to a close, but that's nonsense, with a *full third* of 2007 to still pursue your dreams.

Ok, today I want to talk about something that crossed my mind a couple of weeks ago.
I've kept it in reserve as other topics came to the fore, but I'm sneaking it in this week, and it's about a woman's favourite colour, which we all know is yellow...

'What's that?' I hear you cry, 'a woman's colour is surely pink!'
Yes, you'd be right, I just thought I'd say it was yellow to start the topic off!

I'm not even sure how the idea came to me, but I've long since given up trying to wonder how many of my thoughts come to me!

I think this one was as I saw a right bruiser of a woman walking down the road.
She was built to last I can assure you - I'm not mentioning sport this week, but I would say that she'd probably give some of those women shot putters a run for their money...

What made me smile was that she was a vision in pink - hardly a surprise since pink is a woman's favourite colour.
So why is that?

Well pink is the favourite of most women because it's the favourite of most girls, and the reason for that?
Because they are told so!
Let's face it, when the little buggers are still sloshing about the womb, they can hear everyone getting the nursery ready with pink this, pink that - god forbid you decorate the nursery in blue if you know it's a girl on the way!

When the baby's born, she gets covered from head to baby booties in pink, and apart from looking very sweet, it further tells the female subconscious mind that pink is where it's at!

Then all the shops are full of pink, pink clothes, pink toys, pink bikes, pink ipods, and so on.
The end result of this is the kind of shot-putting-wouldn't-want-to-meet-down-a-dark-avenue-but-drenched-in-pink vision that I saw the other day.

I nearly pulled over and told her, but I was too scared.

Of course this kind of observation is further proof if ever it was needed, that the subconscious is a powerful force, and that it's a force that can be changed, by simply recognising the original way it was trained, and then giving it a new training!

It's a powerful tip, can make great sweeping changes in your life if you grasp it - I cover more tips like this in my book, link below!

Ok, that's it for today, next time you see a woman in pink, you can smile and think about the training you give your own subconscious!

'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you know anyone else who you think would enjoy the Great Gordino Newsletter, please pass it on to them!

Transform Your Life In 21 Days:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com/

How to make money from sport:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/sport

Grab my free 8 Step Goal Achievement Plan by sending a blank email to:
mailto:transform@getresponse.com