Shane was a clever business strategist and Joint Venture Broker from whom I was privileged to learn a very important lesson. I’ll tell you the story, and you can draw your own conclusions.

I went on a great, long bicycle ride the other day. I rode along the Coquitlam river, through lush forest, along a dyke through a marsh, and around Lafarge Lake. Beautiful. I’m quite fit now, the bike goes great, and I saw a coyote, a number squirrels, and a magnificent blue heron. No problem, except on the way home, when I got a stabbing pain in my right big toe every time I depressed the pedal.

Are You Battling Intrusive Pain?

All the way home, I battled with this intrusive pain. It spoiled the ride home considerably.

I took my shoe off, examined my toe, nothing to see. Mystery. Frustration. All my attention started focusing on my sore toe in the midst of all the natural beauty surrounding me.

Strong Light Reveals the Source of Pain

I got home, took a good look in the strong bathroom light, and found a minute splinter that must have got into my shoe (I wasn’t wearing socks) and stuck in under my toe. I managed to remove the tiny thing with a tweezers. Such a small splinter certainly had a dramatic effect on my journey.

What is Your Splinter?

On your journey through life, what is your splinter? More specifically, WHO is your splinter?

• What e-mails / phone calls / contacts / meetings do you dread?
• Who spoils your day?

Usually someone whom we think we need or someone who has leverage on us, often a family member.

• Who is it that, once removed from your life, would allow the sun would come out from behind the clouds?
• Who is the spoiler, the “stone in your shoe” as the Mafia say, the one who pours cold water on your hopes and dreams and stinks up your life?
• Who is stealing your rainbow?

Removing Splinters

Since most people don’t change, and freedom is my highest value, I have learned to pay the price to remove splinter people from my life, no matter who they are.

1. Generally, they’re negative parasites who don’t care about you (read “Atlas Shrugged” for a great example of this type of family member) or your welfare.
2. Often they’re jealous, resentful, bitter losers who blame you for their bad choices.
3. Many times, they’re passive aggressive.
4. In all cases, you’re better off without them.

You are Entitled to Joy

Ayn Rand said,

“Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.”

Stop compromising, and stop sacrificing your own happiness; start living!  It’s your life, and you are entitled to joy, fulfillment and the fruit of your labor, in spite of what the mystics and socialists tell you.

Life is short, and you deserve the consequences of your choices. You are not obliged to pay for the bad choices that other people make. You’re not a slave to anyone, and people who care about you don’t hurt you. It has to work both ways – give and take; leeches, guilt-mongers, and passengers have to pay their way or get off the bus.

Sacrifice and Serving

When you summon the strength and resolve to kick the losers out of your life / remove the splinters, you will be amazed at how fast you can soar to unprecedented heights of success and peace of mind. Ayn Rand said,

“I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

I encourage you to take your life back, and to break free from mental and emotional slavery. Ayn Rand again:

“It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.”

The best way to predict the future is to create it, so remove the splinters from your toes and your heart, get on your bike, and enjoy your journey through life. It’s not too late, and there’s a wonderful world out there, waiting for free people to enjoy it!

• Do you find that although you’re honest, loyal, hard-working, committed, and conscientious, yet you’re not making money?
• You attend the seminars, read the books, and apply the principles, but nothing seems to work?

Don’t worry; there is a rational reason.

Your Values Determine Your Value

Leverage is what it’s all about in business. That is, after all, how the rich get rich.  And that’s why I love being a Joint Venture Broker – I use leverage.

How about getting leverage on your mind, so that you can accomplish your goals faster and easier? It costs nothing, and it’s simpler than one might imagine. They say, “Affirmations, like ‘I’m happy, healthy, and successful’, consistently spoken out loud with enthusiasm and belief, work.” Well, that’s at a very basic level. One can ramp that up significantly.

Stepping Up Affirmations

How do you decide which Joint Venture Partner you want to work with? After all, we have literally millions of options, don’t we?

If you agree that basically, people don’t change – we change our choices, but not who we essentially are – then their past track record must, to a large extent, predict their future choices.

• I’m talking about a track record that starts early in life, and consistently repeats.
• Also, small decisions and actions give us clues to who people are.

We want to work with winners, not wanna-be’s. The quality of our network will determine our net worth, and we can’t afford to hook up with losers. That means that 97% of people simply don’t qualify to work with us. Here’s a simple checklist:

1.  Their Track Record.

Talk with people about their successes and failures in their lives, from childhood. Winners and leaders will always, like the proverbial cream, rise to the top – in teams, in groups, in organizations, in clubs, at school – wherever they choose, and wherever their passion is. If a champion believes in something, he or she is going to make it work. They have track records of success in many different areas of life. Ask the hard questions.

2.  Their Daily Choices.

Watch their daily choices – do they deliver on time, return calls and emails promptly, dress professionally, groom themselves well? Are they reliable, punctual, respectful, honest, and straightforward? Are they generous? Do they honor their promises and make good and take responsibility when they mess up?

3.  Their Money.

Have they made money? If not, what makes you think that will suddenly change? If they have money, where did they get it? Inheritance? Are they self-made, or Daddy-made? If the boy lives with his parents, is a stay-at-home-dad, has his wife support him, and moves from one financial disaster or network marketing company to the next, how will you benefit from partnering with him? Ask them!

4.  Their Associations.

With whom do they associate? Look at their friends. Birds of the feather flock together. Losers love to team up with each other.

5.  Their Input.

Look at what they read. BIG clues there. Be careful of “seminar junkies” – they flare up fast and fade away even faster.

6.  Their Philosophy.

Determine their philosophy. Avoid mystics, socialists, and altruists. You will discover their philosophy by observing their lives. Do your due diligence.

7.  Their Involvements.

What clubs / groups / cults / organizations do they belong to?

8.  Their Action.

Are they action-takers or procrastinators? Are they overly analytical? Do they embrace change positively? Are they “big hat, no cattle”, or the real thang?

9.  Their Presentation.

How do they present themselves? Their dress, grooming, business cards, car, pen, shoes, paperwork, binders, hair, (men with nose / ear hairs, women who have unruly, wet, or badly cut hair) nails, jewelry, tattoos, piercings… Everything is a clue. Do the women dress act like flirts / sluts? Avoid smokers and drinkers.

10.  Test Their Metal.

Even is all the above are in line, test your potential JV partners in small matters before opening up the store. Give them enough rope to hang themselves, enough opportunity to steal, and enough time to let their masks slip.

Be patient – it’s well worth it. Remember, you’re looking for 3% of people.

• One man lives in a trailer park. He is an obese, unhealthy smoker who seldom reads books of any value and spends most of his time playing computer games and whining about the government, upon which he relies for his income.
• Another lives in a nice home, provides for his family, loves his work, develops his mind, stays in shape, and has big goals.
• They were both abused as children, grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, and suffered hardships.
• They are twin brothers.

Circumstances Reflect Philosophy

In Ayn Rand’s amazing book, “Atlas Shrugged”, which I am reading for the third time, John Galt says that one is “remaking the earth in the image of one’s values”. He shows that the construction of our circumstances is an ongoing process. Our values and beliefs are the result of our philosophy. Your circumstances reflect your philosophy and self-esteem.

The loser in the trailer park didn’t end up there one day, suddenly, buy accident, as if by magic. His philosophy directed his choices, which took him down that road. The winner also built his lifestyle – choice by choice. Millions of volitional choices got both these men to where they are today. There is no mystery.

The Sum Total of Your Choices

Your lifestyle and circumstances are the sum total of the choices you have made in your life. Where you will be in the next few years, and where you will end up, is your choice. You hold your future in your own hands.  Every cent you earn and spend is your choice.

Ask the man in the trailer what he thinks about man’s responsibility, about freedom, the role of government, business, and about “luck”. He will explain his philosophy to you. Look at the books he reads, the places he goes, the things he does, the people he mixes with, what he does with his time, and you will see his philosophy. The same goes for the man who has a good life.

Anyone Can Change

Can the man move out of the trailer park lose weight, and create a life of success and happiness? Of course he can, but his philosophy would have to change. His philosophy makes him happy playing the role of a nicotine-addicted victim. He does what he enjoys doing!

• He prefers the company of drunkards and losers to winners.
• He loves feeling sorry for himself.
• He hates the idea of taking responsibility.
• He doesn’t WANT to change; if he did, he would!

His is a philosophy of collectivism and socialism. He believes the world owes him a living, and he blames his family and the world for the fact that he doesn’t have a nice house like his brother.

We like to believe that people can change, and they can. But we need to understand that most of them WON’T change, because they don’t want to change, and often because they don’t believe they CAN change.

You Can’t Give or Force Change

You can’t solve someone’s financial problems by giving them money; you have to teach them to MAKE their own money.  But you can only do that if they WANT to earn more money themselves. Chances are, they expect someone else to earn it and GIVE it to them – they are parasites.

Change is Simple

If you WANT to change your life, it’s actually simple. Find someone who has what you want, someone who has created a lifestyle that you want for yourself, and then adopt their philosophy.

I personally modeled successful men whom I admired, learned their beliefs and values, and emulated them. I adopted the philosophies of men like Paul J. Meyer, Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale, Napoleon Hill, and Winston Churchill, and then I refined my philosophy into one of Objectivism, as portrayed in “Atlas Shrugged.”

Leonard Peikoff said,

“The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era’s dominant ideas. In times of crises, these men need the guidance of some kind of theory; but, being unfamiliar with the field of ideas, they do not know that alternatives to the popular theories are possible. They know only what they have always been taught.”

Most of us depend on our own limited, fear-based, scarcity-oriented frame of reference when it comes to our perception, interpretations, and choices. We’re unaware that we are dealing with a miniscule amount of information, and therefore severely limiting our choices.

Explore Fearlessly

My ex father-in-law, Peter, was a brilliant man, a real-life rocket scientist, and a crazy Hollander. He had an amazing brain and could read four books a day. Perhaps this explains my daughter’s high IQ, but I digress.

Peter’s mind eagerly leaped over boundaries and explored the unknown like a young collie dog off the leash in a forest. And because he fearlessly exposed his brain to every possible philosophy and insight, he continually expanded his frame of reference and deliberately questioned his own conclusions and interpretations. One has to have high self-esteem and loads of courage to do that.

Why Everything Looks Yellow

We are all conditioned by our education, environment, culture, past experiences, and families, and we are all locked in to one or another cult, and all this conspires to limit our awareness of the options and alternatives available to us. So we tend to operate and make choices within a very limited sphere of possibilities.

Like a goldfish in a bowl, compared to a fish in the ocean. Like a prisoner in a cell compared to a world traveler. Like the average person. Life and business is a magnificent buffet, with millions of exciting food options laid out before us, but the blinders we wear and the shackles we choose restrict us to a diet of broccoli and green bananas. We’re like people wearing sunglasses with yellow lenses – everything looks yellow.

How to start becoming aware of your limitless options and potential:

1. Read the right books especially books that disagree with and challenge your present philosophy. Free yourself from preconceived ideas and “hardening of the attitudes” by looking at the opposite. If you’re a capitalist, talk with a socialist. If you’re religious, talk with an atheist. If you love meat, talk with a vegetarian. Expand your mind.
2. Mix with the right people. Open-minded libertarians, freethinking rebels, bums, millionaires, artists, and outcasts will teach you more than college professors, mystics, and male schoolteachers (men amongst boys and boys amongst men). Learn from people who have already created what you want, and especially those who disagree with you.
3. Travel widely. It amazes me that people restrict their travel and repeat the same destinations, when there is a great, big, exciting world out there to discover.
4. Ask lots of “What if?” questions. What if everything you believe is wrong? What if the most important person in your life died tomorrow? What if you lost your main income source? What if you were suddenly paralyzed? What if you won millions of dollars? Play with your mind. Climb over the fence of reason and run around with brave and silly explorers in the field of the unknown and forbidden.
5. Challenge your present philosophy. Have the guts to start asking the hard questions. Why do you believe what you believe, and how is it helping you to live a life of joy, fulfillment, and adventure? What cults do you belong to? Start asking, “Why not? By whose authority? How can you prove that?”

It’s YOUR Life.

Freedom is a choice.

• We don’t fear failure per se – we fear the opinions of other people.
• The only one whose opinion counts, is YOU. It’s YOUR life. And you only get one.
• Stop allowing scalawags and parasites to steal your joy.

A free life starts with the attitude that makes it possible. Ayn Rand said,

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. Why do they always teach us that it’s easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It’s the hardest thing in the world – to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we REALLY want.”

Decide what you want out of life, discover what beliefs are stopping you, and break free.

In regards to money, wealth, and business, the best system I have found, and that which offers me the greatest potential and freedom, is to broker Joint Ventures.

Watching Richard Attenborough’s “Life of Birds” on PBS last night, I saw a striking example of nature’s socialist counterpart – the Cuckoo. There are so many parallels, and the analogy clearly describes the win/lose basis of socialism.

Nest Intrusion

Female European Cuckoos lay their eggs only in the nests of other bird species. The cuckoo egg usually closely resembles the eggs of the host bird (one of whose eggs is often removed by the cuckoo). The host may recognize the intruding egg and abandon the nest, or it may incubate and hatch the cuckoo egg.

Caring for Someone Else’s Babies

Shortly after hatching, the young European Cuckoo, using a scoop-like depression on its back, instinctively shoves over the edge of the nest any solid object that it contacts, including, of course, the eggs of the host bird! With the disappearance of their eggs and rightful offspring, the foster parents devote all of their care to the young cuckoo.

Frequently this is an extremely difficult task, since the cuckoo chick often grows much larger than the host adults long before it can care for itself. So you see a pair of small foster parents working very hard to keep up with the voracious appetite of an outsized young cuckoo – another bird’s young.

Socialism is Cuckoo!

Socialism tells us: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

So here we have the Cuckoo, laying her eggs in another bird’s nest, and having someone else raise her offspring, while her baby kills the offspring of the host bird! The producer (the host bird) does all the work, and ends up with nothing, while the parasite (Cuckoo) does no work and simply breeds more losers. Talk about the welfare state!

Here we have a clear, combined example of the perils of affirmative action, unions, collectivism, the dole, racism, statism, and multiculturalism! Scary!

The Perils of Socialized Government

Next time you hear people talking about socialized medicine, “giving back”, “sharing the wealth”, and raising the minimum wage, remember the Cuckoo. Socialism allows the government to steal your wealth and make you work for those who won’t take responsibility for their own lives. It forces you to sacrifice your family and quality of life for the leeches in our society. And it’s partner in crime, mysticism, simply reinforces this poisonous philosophy.

Ayn Rand said, in her wonderfully prophetic book, Atlas Shrugged, “I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

You deserve the fruit of your labor;  don’t let some Cuckoo politician or witchdoctor steal it from you.