Weird Wednesday

Things Get CRAY CRAY

Let's continue.

(This is the second part of this story…)

I have set up little environments in my new place to help me focus on different processes. One cool one is in my Bedroom (Not that process; seriously, I'm trying to tell an important story here, sheesh.)

I have a standing desk in there, and when it's at standing height, it's like a cool little cubby hole with a view out to Melbourne.

It's great for meditating and watching stuff where I'm learning. It's a floor-sitting space. I'm unsure why I'm telling you this, but there you are.

If you are going to be a student, be a student.

Before I could join the weekly meeting, I had to watch a series of videos in preparation for the meeting.

Roger that.

Here's the thing. Putting my course-design hat on for a second. If we are getting you to do some onboarding process before we get you into the program, it's for a really good reason.

In this case, it's particularly important. This teacher swears like a sailor (He is going to be so big in Australia - it's like our love language), and for someone doing inner work, he is the opposite of what you would think a "spiritual" teacher would be.

Which is one of the reasons I clearly love the guy!

So, apart from warning you about his swearing, he has a particular way he would like you to sit when you are participating in a class. He wants you to Floor-sit so you can breathe properly and be present.

Meta-Note on Zoom Meetings

Other things he mentions, which I'm going to totally steal, are;

• Get off the chat - unless it's for an exercise or specifically requested. Focus on what you are here for. This is a pet peeve of mine and something which has taken on a life of its own. If you are in the chat you are not listening, you are not present!

• Stop doing all your other stuff while you are doing a class, a class is not an opportunity to go through your mail. The number of times I'm on a webinar and people without shame ask for something they missed (almost always the same people who are most active in the chat) takes my breath away.

• Put down the crack pipe (I mean your pen). If you are taking notes, you are not present. You are also sending a message to your brain: you are not going to remember this stuff. If you are present, you will remember, and in the case of online classes, they are recorded!!! In a topic close to my heart, AI will help summerise, create spaced repetition cards and really help optimise your memory.

There is more, but I digress.

I was astonished at how many people showed up to this Wednesday morning class and had not watched the prescribed videos!

If I'm paying and commit to the course, I follow the system.

I used to be an asshole and an idiot and thought I knew better than the teacher or the course. I also used to be broke and extremely broken inside.

The Class Commences...

There is something about watching a technique live done by a master, which is way more impactful.

It's even more impactful when you see it in person, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I consider myself pretty good at presenting; I have the pleasure of working with one of the best live, off-the-cuff presenters I have ever experienced - Taki Moore. On Zoom and Live, he is so good.

I'm not sucking up to my boss, by the way. 😜

In this Zoom class, I saw a whole new level.

This person was extraordinary, and by the end of the class, I knew I had found my new Inner Work teacher.

Remember Legends, my phrase of the year was synchronicity, and the core operating process is "Let life come to me".

If the story ended here, It would have been an amazing start to the year.

Through this teacher's work, I found a couple of missing processes I needed to really make progress with my inner work, and observing the class made me realise I was going to have access to another teacher/mentor who could help me be a better mentor and teacher.

I did not expect this. I was really pleased.

That dude with the gong has some serious chops.

However, it's only 9 am in Melbourne on Weird Wednesday, and things are about to get CRAY CRAY.

The Experts Curse

In the Challenge, I've observed over the years, it's often harder for an expert in the subject to create a program for beginners in their field. It's tough to remember what it was like when they were first learning.

You also (and what I'm about to say, up until now, I was super guilty of) are judgey. You analyse everything from the point of view of not what they are teaching but why they are teaching, and worse, you are looking for holes so you can feel superior.

Yuk. (Up until now, super guilty - and I'll tell you how I was cured of this further along in the story)

I started this whole crazy story because I was being Judgy McJudgey and trying to figure out the guy with the gongs SCAM.

I don't feel great about that, but it's true, and it is a lesson.

However, I was really impressed and went about my day.

The Direct Message

I think it was around 5 pm I got this in Messenger.

Actually, It wasn't in Messenger; I got it in Meta Business Manager because I was not friends with this person.

Another bit of Synchronicity: I had only set up Business Manager the prior month (Thanks, Tamara!). Had I not just set this up (after years of proudly🤦 ignoring all DM's from pretty much everybody, let alone people I don't know!)

Huh, wheels within wheels...

I didn't respond immediately because of the "Experts Curse"

I thought that's great customer service; he has a team member reaching out to new people, and I thought the messaging and tone were excellent.

🤦.

A couple of hours later, instead of ignoring the message, I was so impressed with what I observed that morning and, indeed, the book and its accompanying videos I thought I'd play along and tell the customer service rep exactly how much I loved the program and how impressed I was.

60 seconds later...

😱.

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.

Are you kidding me?

Look, just a reminder. This is the first Wednesday workday of the year.

Do You Like Crazy?

We continue:

Remember, my experiment this year is to let life come to me.

In a meeting, I don't talk unless I'm invited (Do you know how hard this is for me!)

This year I don't initiate ideas (Are you freaking kidding me?).

Both of these, at an intellectual level, are ridiculously scary and against everything I've ever learned.

I need to wait for an invitation.

…

I got an invitation...

The Invitation

I remember thinking at the time. No way, am I about to get an invitation?

I then received a 1:10-second voice message inviting me to go to an event he was holding in Hawaii the following week...

Whoooah...

Flashback

I just spent a day in Miami with my marketing hero, Gary Halbert. As a boy growing up in Beechworth I loved Miami Vice (I even had a grey suit and pastel t-shirt to go to the chookshed disco in Yackandandah) I was cruising the Miami waterways, going to a hidden crab shack where all the super models and celebs go to have lunch without the paparazzi.

What a day.

As I was leaving what was one of the greatest days of my life. Gary said to me, it's such a shame you are going back to Australia. My entire team is meeting in London next week, and it would have been incredible for you to meet them.

I thanked him for the offer, but I had been away for a couple of weeks, and my wife at the time had been looking after very young months old Hannah while I had been travelling.

I called my wife on the way to the airport in Miami to tell her about my day. To her credit, she said, "Ed you should go, he is your hero, what an opportunity."

So I turned off the freeway, called Gary and said, "I'm going to London"

Changed my life.

I just got goosebumps writing this.

The Wheels within the wheels.

When I got that voicemail from this guy on Wacky Wednesday, I knew deep in my gut I was going.

This was a second Halbert moment.

Trusting your gut

I've already told you about "Letting life come to me" as a core part of my Human Design.

There is another very important part of the process.

For me, others are very different. I need to trust my instant gut reaction to any situation. There are only two: Yes or No (Not Now).

In the moment, right then and there.

WTF. Don't I have to think things through and consider the possibilities? My brain is going 24/7, considering, thinking, strategising, running scenarios.

My thinking...(note, thinking) was this was bananas.

Then I started running back through my last year, just like I did with the whole “let life come to me” thing...

Fark me.

I thought about when I got a vibe when I was interviewing someone last year; “this person is full of shit”. I ignored it and went along with others.

Turns out, they were, indeed, full of shit.

I thought about times when I did follow my gut. When Kiri-Maree discussed the possibility of the AI-focused role at BlackBelt, it was like a lightning bolt. I knew I would do it despite some significant ego issues I had at the time.

Damn it.

I'm following my gut now, am I?

This is not easy either. If you are carried away in the moment, being aware enough to listen/feel for that reaction is hard.

And if you miss it, you must wait to be asked again. You can't just review it. 😱

As I write this, I'm just coming off a no-good, very bad, terrible day. I was not present throughout the whole day. I want to wallow in my misery, damn it.

I'm just starting on this experiment, I can barely do the "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" of my chosen Inner Work process.

Fortunately, On Wacky Wednesday, I was present.

My gut was loud and clear.

I'm going.

Little did I know what I was about to experience at Coco Wasi on the Big Island of Hawaii...

Life Changing.

To Be Continued

Ed

PS If you’ve read this whole thing, you may be interested in who the “Guy with the Gong is”. I would encourage you to do like I did (perhaps without the total “What’s the scam vibe I had”), buy the book, and watch the video. It’s $8 bucks, and I can assure you this is so far from an affiliate link it’s not funny. You can get the book here.

If you read this book and it has the same impact on you as it did me and “You Like Crazy”.

Send me an email to ed@ai30dc.com, and you might like to come with me to Coco Wasi on the Big Island of Hawaii in the first week of March…