THE INTEGRITY OF INFLUENCE

Never aim for your goal directly, always aim in angles.

Basic human logic states when you aim to "make money" you will do so by hard work. But, when you aim to "just make money" you're blinded by the money and you forget the most important thing - helping people by adding your own personal value.

For a majority of my life, the "direct approach" has been my thought and key to success. I could only see things logically by drawing straight lines and aiming for my goals directly. After years, I started to realize that most of my achievements have come indirectly.

Almost all of my achievements were accidental. They were indirect and created by trying to achieve something else. It was like my accidents were more successful than my plans.

From this, I learned that!

Nature never moves in straight lines but basic human logic does. Nature creates perfect order from chaos. Human logic creates chaos from order. Nature was an indirect thinker, it always moved in angles and it was very good at it.

This discovery changed my perspective on everything. A new perspective and a polar shift from the direct to the indirect.

1 - The Self Illusion

In business, there’s one enemy you will come up against again and again. This enemy is enemy is not your competitors, it is you. You are the only one who can question yourself and doubt you'r every move. Like a dark force that has you by the heels. A monster that’s breathing down your neck. When I got started in business I was a shy, awkward, clueless, poor, horrible individual who had no idea how the world worked. I was paralyzed from taking action. Fear against myself, while the solution was me all along.

Even though society has phrases like “Be yourself” and “Stick to your roots” or “Don’t forget where you came from”. Have you ever stopped to think about who you really are? Where is this thing you call the self? The self-doesn’t exist, it’s merely you clinging to an identity built up of stories about the past.

It’s been my observation that the only way to achieve success is to become the person who deserves it. When we become this new person we are no longer ourselves. You see, this is the issue with our understanding. We believe we are something when we aren’t anything.

To succeed in business you have to change who you are. You have to constantly evolve. This is impossible when you cling to your identity and believe you are the way you are. You have to slaughter your self-image. Instead of answering the question “Who am I?” Try answering the question “Who am I becoming”. Decide who you need to be to be successful and then grow into that new character. All the worlds a stage and we are merely actors.

2 - The Mirror

People don’t have business problems, they have only life problems that reflect in their business. Most people try to start a business by focusing on logical business things like their website, sales skills, marketing etc. When they experience a business problem they think it’s a business problem and they attempt to solve it by focusing on the same things. This rarely works. To put it simply, business is like a mirror. It’s like holding a mirror up to yourself and looking at the reflection. Whatever habits and behaviors you display yourself will be reflected right back at you in your business, and 90% of the time the problem in your business is coming from your own personal life. Clean it up there and it vanishes. When you’re starting your own business you must be aware of the mirror and display the behavior you want to receive.

3 - Patterns Of Existence

You’re not the highest version of yourself which you can imagine, you’re the lowest version of yourself which you can accept. Most people have hopes and dreams but they rarely achieve them. They write down things they want and wish happy thoughts but nothing ever comes of it. People always regulate the lowest version of themselves which they can accept, not the highest version of themselves which they can imagine.

Change comes from lifting your standards, not your dreams. People binge-watch TV series and leave their dreams on the back-burner for later but they will fight like hell to not breach their standards. This pattern presents itself in everybody.

Here's a common example:

If you want to observe somebodies pattern of existence, look at their bank account. Most people have two numbers "Desired balance" and "Panic balance". They want to have more money in their bank account but the force of desire is nowhere near strong enough to make them do something about it.

Then there's the "Panic balance". The number that somebody panics when their balance falls below it. The moment somebody finds themselves below the panic balance they explode into action and work tirelessly until they're back in the safe zone. These two numbers present a person's financial dreams and standards. They do nothing to achieve the dreams but they fight like hell to not breach their standards. This same pattern of existence show's up everywhere in a persons life, not just their bank account.

When you want to change your life or business try to map your dreams and standards and understand where they are. Find the lowest version of yourself you're willing to tolerate and then work on lifting that standard to where you truly want to be. When you do this you'll light a fire within you like nothing else.

I hope this helps you on your journey!

• Scott Gilbreth