Wikipedia tells us,

“A blind spot, also known as a scotoma, is an obscuration of the visual field. A particular blind spot known as the blindspot, or physiological blind spot, or punctum caecum in medical literature is the place in the visual field that corresponds to the lack of light-detecting photoreceptor cells on the optic disc of the retina where the optic nerve passes through it. Since there are no cells to detect light on the optic disc, a part of the field of vision is not perceived. The brain fills in with surrounding detail and with information from the other eye, so the blind spot is not normally perceived.”

Psychological Scotoma – The Inability to See Clearly

Try this interesting, fun exercise.

Psychological scotoma, like ophthalmological scotoma, is an inability to see or notice, or correctly interpret situations that are often obvious to objective observers.

All of the following can contribute to the establishment and maintenance of a psychological scotoma:

• ignorance,
• greed,
• wishful thinking,
• fear,
• denial,
• comfort,
• a vested interest in the existing situation

A popular example is men and women who don’t notice that their spouses are having affairs and flirting, while everyone else does.

Another is the behavior and choices of cult members, ranging widely from religious to political to financial; one can see a highly intelligent, politically savvy, wealthy, connected TV host performing brilliantly and winning tough arguments, while at the same time wearing “Holy Undergarments”.

The Purpose of This Article

But the purpose of this little article is to ask you,

“Is your scotoma preventing you from succeeding financially?”

Is this why you hook up with losers, waste money on scams, refuse to stop financially draining activities or withdraw from dead-end MLM schemes?

I have seen many women with massive financial potential get involved with men who are basically parasites and who not only leech all their money away, but prevent these smart women from reaching their full potential.

Has your conditioning  and “education” created a blind spot that prevents you from making heaps of money?

Reality Check on Your Financial Blind Spot

In our society, many of us have been exposed to conditioning without even being aware of it.  Banks, employers, politicians, educational institutions, mystics, and others have a vested interest in our financial ignorance and enslavement.

It starts when we’re young children.  Having said all that, it’s time to give ourselves a “check-up from the neck up” as Zig Ziglar used to say, and take a good, hard look in the mirror.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself that might establish the fact that you have, indeed, succumbed to a psychological financial scotoma:

1. Is it possible for you to retire within one year with more passive monthly income than you need to live on? (It is.)
2. Is it possible for you to become a millionaire? (It is.)
3. Is it possible for you to create wealth with no cost, risk, or selling? (It is, and this isn’t Network Marketing.)
4. Is it possible for you to be happy, financially free, and fulfilled person? (It is.)

What We Believe is Usually Not True

Our perceptions of life and our options and the way things works are simply a chosen interpretation.

We tend to believe the stories we tell ourselves about the meaning of our circumstances. To get outside the proverbial box, we need to talk with people who are already outside the box.

When I was poor and I wanted to get rich, I found people who had created wealth and learned from them. I continue to find people smarter and richer and more successful than I am, and I learn from them, often through the books they write.

It’s Never Too Late to Break Free

There is a lot of valuable information for you on our Websites and Blog, including thousands of articles, Podcasts, videos, and audio clips, but the best way to break free is via the training we present.

“But, Robin, please! What does this have to do with Joint Ventures and business? Enough of the philosophy, already!”

As long as we’re dealing with people and money, philosophy is the basis on which we have to base our assumptions, predictions, choices, and evaluations.

This article may go a little way to illustrating my point.

What is Mysticism?

Ayn Rand writes,

“What is mysticism?

Mysticism is the acceptance of allegations without evidence or proof, either apart from or against the evidence of one’s senses and one’s reason. Mysticism is the claim to some non-sensory, non-rational, non-definable, non-identifiable means of knowledge, such as ‘instinct,’ ‘intuition,’ ‘revelation,’ or any form of ‘just knowing.’ Reason is the perception of reality, and rests on a single axiom: the Law of Identity. Mysticism is the claim to the perception of some other reality—other than the one in which we live—whose definition is only that it is not natural, it is supernatural, and is to be perceived by some form of unnatural or supernatural means.”

Mysticism to Conceal Real Motives

I was recently copied on an e-mail from a woman who intended to join the DollarMakers Club, but had problems understanding how to use PayPal. When it was resolved, she jumped to the confusion that Outlook Express had somehow caused an issue with her credit card not working, and this was her response:

“I am taking the mishap as a signal that perhaps my application to Dollarmakers was not meant to be at this time.”

When we use our ineptitude and normal daily frustrations to justify a change in mind, we’re using mysticism to conceal our real motives.

Red Flags

We all seek evidence to support our dominant beliefs – that’s quite normal. Many people use their children and families as excuses to disguise their real values and motives, but that’s usually easy to determine. When it comes to mysticism, however, a huge red flag goes up. But wait! Perhaps this is what the color red might really signify!  See what I mean? Ridiculous.

Easier to Choose Blame Then Taking Responsibility

“The universe is trying to tell me something” – amazing.

Visit your local Theosophical Society or Science of Mind meeting, and see how many successful business owners you find there, (apart from the ones running the meeting – they have a special agenda.)

It’s easier to blame your Spirit Guide, karma, numerology, or astronomy than to take responsibility for your own bad choices, laziness, or lack of commitment. I know – I have been involved in and studied many kinds of mystical organizations, and philosophies – they’re all basically the same.

Here’s The Bottom Line

If you want to do business with someone, you need to establish that you’re working with an adult who is

• sane,
• responsible,
• rational,
• objective,
• and mature.

Or be prepared to have them disguising their dishonesty and slothfulness with voodoo nonsense and justifications.

Cloaking one’s real agenda is mysticism and only works for those who share the illusions and delusions.

Get Real

Instead of talking chakras and essential oils, let’s talk numbers, ratios, and profit. Let’s stop fooling ourselves and get real. Evaluate your future business associates carefully, and avoid the mystics at all costs.

The:

1. psychics and swamis,
2. fakirs and fakers,
3. gurus and grifters,
4. posers and prophets

will simply waste your time and steal your peace of mind.

Finally, many years ago, I attended a wonderful business seminar with a friend of mine. The seminar leader was a brilliant entrepreneur who has made a fortune for himself and others. He was talking about one’s context, cognizance, and perceptions in business, and my friend was angry that

“this arrogant man spends his time philosophizing.”

Well, your philosophy will ultimately determine where you end up in life, and it is the basis of all your choices and the results you create. Many years, my friend’s philosophy has brought him to where he is, and mine has brought me to where I am – a world apart.

Work With Like-Minded People

For me, Capitalism and Objectivism work well. I suggest all business owners read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand – it’s the best book I ever read. I am responsible for the circumstances I create and for my reaction to those circumstances. I don’t make excuses, mooch off others, or blame ethereal causes or other people for my choices. And I work with like-minded people.

Carefully evaluate the people with whom you propose to do business: what do they read and believe? Alternatively, leave it to your Spirit Guide to do the work for you, while you zone out with incense and nonsense. It’s easier, until you find yourself living under a bridge with other evolved beings.

We’ve been taught that if we just persevere and persist, we will ultimately win.

Like the man who is told there is a million dollars behind a thick brick wall, and he is given a small chisel to get to it. His hands bleed and he persists day and night, breaking a way through the wall.

He seldom sleeps, never quits, works as hard as he can, denies himself rest and entertainment. He persists until finally, after months of backbreaking work, he gets through the wall, only to find that he was lied to – there is no money there.

Persistence Works When

Before you start on a mammoth task, make sure there is money behind the wall. Do your due diligence.

But when you are convinced that you’re on the right track, that your goal is legitimate, and that it’s up to you to achieve it, persistence is the way to get there.

It’s not about intelligence or who you know or some silly college degree – the hallmark of champions is persistence. The only time it doesn’t work is when the goal is wrong or you quit.

Persistence separates the men from the boys, the talkers from the champions.

Motivation and Support From Family

Cordell Parvin writes in his blog, “Last year I had the chance to see Terry Fator, who was performing at a resort in Hilton Head. He had just won the America’s Got Talent television show. Fator, a ventriloquist, had labored for many years here in Dallas.

According to one report, in May 2007, before appearing on America’s Got Talent, Fator was performing at a fair near Houston, Texas and only one 12 year-old boy was in the audience.

Discouraged, Fator contemplated pursuing another career, but his family encouraged him to hang in there.

Fator says that he never dreamed he would actually win. After winning, opportunities arose. As you may be aware from the news, this year Terry Fator signed a five year $100 million deal to perform nightly at The Mirage Casino and Resort in Las Vegas.”

Your Greatest Asset is Persistence When?

When you’re using the right information and you’re aligned with the right people, and when your goal is legitimate and real, your greatest asset is persistence.

When you persist, you will experience resistance and attacks for the losers of the world. The tall trees catch the wind. Ask Fox News. Ask Microsoft and Wal-Mart. Ask Churchill and Patton.

Losers hate winners. Envy, resentment, jealousy, and fear of being exposed will cause others to try to undermine you, but as long as you persist, you will win.

“The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night” – remember that.

And Then There Are Warriors

In 23 years of business, I have consistently found that the big talkers with the big egos seldom achieve anything. They substitute hot air for results, and one by one people see through their bluster and posing, until they settle for mediocrity and servitude, along with the other weak people who never amount to anything.

Warriors:

1. Don’t always talk a lot, but they take massive, persistent, audacious, fearless action.
2. Answer to themselves.
3. Take full responsibility for their commitments.
4. Never even consider the option of quitting.

When you’re on the right track, persistence and consistency will guarantee your success.

A Proven Success Recipe

Having said that, let me ask you this: If you knew, without a doubt, that if you were to work hard consistently and persist for just one year, following a proven success recipe, you would be able to retire with more residual / passive monthly income than you needed to live on comfortably, would you go for it? That’s exactly what we offer at DollarMakers.

Years ago, I was chopping wood for a barbeque. I wore sandals, and stupidly supported the wood with my foot.

Bang!

I chopped right into the tip of my front toe. The only thing that prevented me from cleaving the entire toe in half and limping for the rest of my life was my sandal.

Idiot.

At the emergency room, they injected directly into the quarter-inch wound before sewing it up. Ouch!

I no longer chop in the direction of my feet.

A New Respect Gained

I was preparing for a camping trip to Ponta Do Ouro in Mozambique in the summer of 1972. (Don’t go there now, unless you like the idea of landmines – you might lose more than a toe…) As I packed my VW minibus camper, I carried my snub-nosed .38 Astra Special revolver on a sleeping cushion. As I stepped up into the back door, the loaded gun slipped off the pillow, hit the bus’s floor, and went off.

Since the windows and other doors were closed and a bullet was definitely fired, it can only have passed between me and the inside of the one door – a very small space – a close miss, if ever there was one.

Stupid.

I learned an important lesson and gained a renewed respect for guns.

Limit Risk and Costs

I have met more conmen, shysters, and outright thieves in the past twelve years than I ever thought possible.

And with governments fast going the way of outright socialism and banks and the taxman collaborating to put the squeeze on business owners, we live in an increasingly  dangerous business world. It’s time to grow up and realize that we are at risk, and that we need to limit our risk.

Avoid it All Together

When I tell people to do business with no cost and no risk, I mean it.

I know a fellow with a giant ego and a small IQ who regularly sought to differ with me on this point. I have seen him lose a lot of money, since he doesn’t understand how to avoid risk and cost. If he did, he wouldn’t lose so much money in his harebrained schemes, or work with thieves.

Knowing how business works, and understanding the odds, the risks, and the fact that there are a few dishonest people around, makes it necessary, if one wishes to get rich, to avoid risk and costs.

It’s Easier Than it Seems

1. Use leverage and existing resources instead of paying for new ones. Work strategically and don’t rely on any one source of income.
2. Pay for results, not promises.
3. Be VERY careful whom you associate / do business with. Remember that people can change for the worst – easily and quickly, so be prepared for that.
4. When you smell a rat, RUN. Cut bait. Delete. Immediately.
5. Test people in many ways to make sure they are still loyal and honest. Be a detective.
6. Don’t disclose the identities of your Joint Venture partners.
7. Triangulate deals – don’t sell your own products and services.
8. Align yourself with people who share your philosophy – don’t link up with mystics, socialists, environmentalists, or reverse racists.
9. Don’t trust government or work with government or their agents.
10. Operate with no overhead – lean and mean. Expect the best and prepare for the worst. Spread your income and diversify.

Joint Ventures allow one to operate as above, and the older and wiser I get, the more I appreciate the power and sophistication offered by the Joint Venture systems I use.

If you’re carrying a gun, make sure it’s not pointed at you.

Ayn Rand wrote,

“All work is an act of philosophy.”

For innovators, produces, and creators, our work is our lives – our businesses are simply an extension off our philosophies and values.

We take our work very seriously, and we take full responsibility for being the best we can be. We don’t do it for other people – we do it for ourselves.

A writer must write, a painter has to paint, and a dancer is compelled to dance, since what they do is an expression of their minds. Entrepreneurs are also artists. Musicians create symphonies; business owners create businesses.

Hard Workers

Some people work hard pumping water in the hot sun, filling buckets with it, and carrying it to another location, where they sell it to their customers.

They work too hard, they sell their time, they have very limited potential, and they are terrified of their competition. They are, essentially, controlled by their customers.

These are: the self-employed, broke salespeople / laborers who call themselves entrepreneurs.

Real Entrepreneurs

This past week we enjoyed a wonderful Alaskan Cruise. High end, high class, high standards. Ran like clockwork, every detail attended to.

One night, a large section of the crew, including officers, chefs, and people representing every department, showed up on the stage in the theater at the end of one of the performances. They sang, and it was great. The entertainment manager stated at the end of the event,

“We represent many countries and creeds. See how we can all work together in perfect harmony, regardless of our backgrounds, cultures, religions, or education? We have a lot to teach the world.”

They then proceeded to sing, “We are the world.” Very sweet, but not very accurate.

A Principle of HarMONEY

Few people have guts to tell it the way it is. Robert Kiyosaki, in this incredible video, says things like,

“Four things make 90% of the people poor: taxes, inflation, debt, retirement plans.”

And then he provides solutions. He says,

“America will become a third world nation – rich and poor. That’s it. Tell me something money does not affect. Most guys are just wimps. Pussies. Cowards. They don’t have it. so they should get a job. It takes discipline. Most people would like to have a great body like Charles Atlas, but they’re at Burger King wolfing down a Whopper with fries. I don’t know how you can expect to get anything you want without some degree of long-term commitment. Quitting is the easiest thing to do. That’s why most people don’t make it. Everybody has doubts and fear of failing. But look at Tiger Woods or any great athlete: when the going gets tough, that’s when they turn into geniuses and most people turn into wimps. Get off your butt. If you want to be a mechanic, you go hang out with mechanics. If you want to get rich, hang out with rich people.”

3 Things You Need to Succeess

When it comes down to it, you need three things to succeed in business: