”You were born & blessed with a purpose’

‘Your purpose ignites your passion’

‘Your purpose fires your soul’

‘Your purpose moulds your mindset’

‘Your purpose will make you a champion performer’

‘Nothing but nothing can stand in your way when your mission is to

succeed, helping others succeed along the way’

‘Look in the mirror, that’s your competition right there, no one else but you. You will have to go the extra mile and on that isolated section of road, on that gruelling extra mile of the journey, there is absolutely no competition, it’s lonely and bereft of any company because very few people go that extra mile’

‘Let success pour out of you, out of every pore’

‘Let the concept that you were born to win pour and pour’

‘ I want to see you pouring!’

I was (albeit, naturally distracted), listening, I was taking note but the only thing waiting to pour out of me was the three Starbucks Vanilla Latte’s I’d walloped down before I sat down to hear the latest motivational speaker on the motivational speaker circuit, telling me how I can rise above the humdrum and make something of my sorry-arse life, of course, the sturdy bridge enabling me to cross to such a utopia had to be built upon the numerous books, CD’s and courses the speaker had to flog. I’m assuming the £199.00 early-bird bargain rate of entry was clearly not enough to pay him an annual income. I’d already worked it out. There were 33 people in the room, 26 had paid the early-bird fee (which of course, never actually rises and always twitters on as an ‘early-bird’ offer), the other 6 people were clearly adoring family members, adoringly watching doe-eyed, although not really letting the inspirational tripe sink in but obviously present to support him. So, 26 people at £199, minus the cost of the room etc, netted Mr Motivation around £3000. I agree, working out his financial numbers was not the best use of my early-bird fee. I clearly wasn’t listening to the magic that could transform my unsteady and spiralling downwards life. Luckily for me (and contrary to popular belief), somehow I’d not lived under a stone throughout my business life and therefore had already heard, read or listened to 90% of what this speaker had to bleat about, the remaining 10% was the usual moth-eaten, personalised story of how he had;

1. Discovered Himself
2. Was tired of being told he wasn’t good enough
3. Went from failure to failure until one day his inner-self woke up
4. Let his failures & personal tragedies guide him to success and stage

Naturally, all beautifully topped off with the wearisome sprinkles of a ‘rags to riches’ decorative slant.

Personally, I’m a massive fan of PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT (see, I even wrote it in capitals!), and I know from my personal experience how it has developed, encouraged, guided and supported thousands of people to personal success and most importantly given many people the one thing they were lacking. CONFIDENCE. I have witnessed how a shot of confidence at the right time has boosted people to happiness, contentment and ultimatel, fulfilment. I will also admit how key books, by certain authors, have given me a shot of much-needed self-esteem and in some cases also helped with my business direction, resulting in hugely positive results that may have taken a lot longer without personal development (or potentially, not happened at all).

It was whilst I was sat watching and ‘learning’ from the speaker’s story that my distractions (other than the Starbucks induced flooding I caused in the toilets, having strategically escaped whilst the audience were all engaged in synchronised applause, clumsily clapping at how the speaker had overcome a parking fine, when he was broke or something even less dramatic), that I realised my greatest motivation and scholarship had been gleaned through the sheer number of crooks, blaggers & disingenuous people I’d encountered through my business years (and continue to do so), rather than stories of hope, goodness and personal achievement. Naturally, such stories of H, G & PA, still have their priceless effect upon my self-assurance, sorry-arse and progress and are still vital today but in unadulterated business terms, INTUITION is fundamental and without any ambiguity, I have to attribute that to the Crooks, Blaggers & Disingenuous that plague almost every molecule of work and business life, infecting the soul of industry with their selfishness, greed and insensitive disrespect for other people.

Almost everyone I know, in the industry I’m involved with (and have been for over two decades now), has a life-changing, corner-turning, mindset-building, confidence-boosting book in their repertoire, one that for them personally sits smouldering, head & shoulders above the rest, the one that is their crowning glory of personal development literature. The ONE! Even I have one of those, it undoubtedly became my business-bible, hitting all the nails on the head, ticking all the boxes and (with customary and clumsy, synchronised applause), it had the obligatory rags to riches sprinkles that had me riveted from sad beginning to abundant end. Aside from that inspiring masterpiece, there have been a handful of other cornerstone books too, so I value what most of them have to say, even though the formula utilised by the majority of authors is monotonous and has very little that is fresh, exciting or different to add and usually covers the old favourites;

1. Where I came from and how I suffered
2. The lessons I learned and what I did to become a success and
3. Tips on what you can do to become a success

Seriously, what else is there to spew upon the audience? Of course, there will be slight variations of lifestyle, approach and even debilitating disabilities and illnesses thrown in for inspiration but there isn’t much else to spice up the personal development blueprint. If you’re currently reading a PD book and it’s not smacking you in the face with something you don’t already know, or crow-barring you from its dreary pages into tangible action that will mentor your life into the direction you want it to go into, throw it away and get yourself one that infiltrates your mind, moves your soul and activates your mindset into forward gear. There will be one out there that does that for you. In my humble opinion, it’s the short stories, from the real-life people. People that have just got up and given it a go because they needed to, through lack of a choice, or they were just tired of the life they had. The everyday people that overcome their challenges, they get through their illnesses, they escape the abuse, they learn to live with their loss, filing away their heartache and labelling it all as motivation to go after whatever morsels make their worlds complete.

Personally, I owe the crooks, blaggers and disingenuous the loudest shout-out. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for teaching me the most worthwhile business lessons imaginable and albeit I’m sounding a tad disingenuous myself, I honestly don’t know how I would have learnt what I have done without meeting all the people that have attempted to unfavourably poke me, prod me, trip me up, set me up, screw me up, do me over and the quaint old chestnut, fuck me up! An educative seasoning that Mr Motivaton on stage would have to conjure magical pixie-dust, granting me three wishes to equal. Almost every tiny trait that I believe has been a business saviour for me, encouraging me to trudge through the buggery & skullduggery of taking positive action and progressing into the direction of my dreams, staying exceedingly upbeat and never, ever quitting has come from the merry mongrels that either tried thwarting tactics or bulldozing tactics, sometimes in unison, both malevolently designed to progress the perpetrators with yours truly as a reluctant casualty.

Reverting back to a little human psychology, the MM’s (‘Merry Mongrels’), tactics are predominantly borne of an abominable handful of reasonings;

1. Envy & Jealousy
2. They feel you are a threat
3. They don’t have any real business acumen, therefore have to resort to cheating & chicanery to achieve what they want to
4. Habitual insecurity about their ability
5. All of the above.

Here’s to the cliched world of motivation, wherever it’s derived from and in the words of George Carlin I went to a bookstore and asked the salesperson “Where’s the self-help section?” She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. 

Me? I’ll stick to the books I know, the people that inspire me (that don’t even know it), and naturally, the lessons learnt from the crooks, blaggers and disingenuous, who remain the unwelcome and yet bizarrely welcome gift, that just keeps giving & guiding.

Blaggers Crooks disingenuous