I wrote to Steven Pressfield

by David

Close-up black & white photo of a part of a classic typewriter showing the type-hammers that form the letters on the paper. — Header image of Steven Pressfield’s Writing Wednesdays blog feature

I sent a message to Steven Pressfield.

In case you don’t know who he is let me give you a quick leg up. He’s well lknown author of some popular works such as the War of Art, and the novel The Legend of Bagger Vance which was made into a 2000 film, starring Mat Damon and Will Smith.

I sent him a message because, on Tuesday January 7th 1995, his house of 32 years burned to the ground during the Palisades fire along with thousands of others around the Los Angeles area.

Steven has a blog where he posts a weekly feature called “Writing Wednesdays”. The fire that took his house was on Tuesday January 7th. He published his post as usual on the following day, Wednesday Jan 8th. I gotta say, that’s both impressive and inspiring. His post was about (are you ready for it?) “Belief in all aspects of yourself”.

Adversity can become your reality any minute of every day. Overcoming it is the task we must all be ready to fully enguage if we’re going to survive.

I think that’s how Steven saw his main job that fateful day back in January. A terrific model for those of us who struggle with the sort of tough stuff that ties to kill our efforts to accomplish a goal.

I’m just now finishing up my first book the main subject of which is the calming powers of “self-belief”. In finishing this book I’m about to tell the world that I’ve got a brand new way on how to quickly establish your self-belief in a little as a weekend of time. So, here I am, a first-time author writing to this very famous author to tell him about it.

I know he’s a busy guy so this message probably will go to Nowheresville. But, I’m not asking for anything so what have I got to loose?

Here’s the full message:

Steven, I’ve been a subscriber of yours for a few years now and have enjoyed reading your posts. Sad to learn of the loss you’ve suffered in that fire. But I’m inspired by how you continued to publish your weekly Writing Wednesdays posts.

Amazing!

I just read your latest blog with the main subject of belief in one’s self. I must say you’ve nailed it beautifully. I’ve noticed that people like yourself, Sir Anthony, and so many others are dedicated to the work of encouraging the success of others. Good on you all.

But I see a problem, and I’d like to offer a simple solution.

The problem is one of retention. With encouraging motivational content, no matter how delivered, seems to have a short shelf life. It’s too often interrupted by the next trauma in the receiver’s life. The motivational uplift tends to return to a flat line or may even dip lower from to the place it was before.

That happens because the source of the change, as you yourself has noted, is external to the individual. You’ve indicated that you’d prefer it was done internally. But how that’s to be done so as to be more permanent is a mystery. I believe that the problem is that the messaging is having trouble holding ground in the recipient’s head brain. It’s a thought that can be over-ridden by more urgent thoughts. But what if there was a second brain that could come to the rescue?

Turns out that Dr. Michael Gershon, a leader in the field of neurogastroenterology, has shed light on a second brain located in our gut. To be clear, Dr. Gershon is not at all aware of the work that I’m doing by embracing his finding and introducing the concepts of “dual-brain optimization or “mindset immunity”. He’s a brilliant scientist but, as such, is not given to venture outside the lines of his scientific discipline to search for an ethereal mystery.

I don’t possess anything close to your writing chops, in fact, it took me forty years to reasonably articulate the mystery I’ve discovered. But now, I’ll soon be able to offer the public an extremely positive way that can, in just over a weekend, have anyone engage in a very different online experience. One that provides irrefutable proof, with hard evidence, that they’ve been successful their entire lives.

This has shown to be so powerful that it only has to be done one time. No repeats are ever necessary. This means that not having to repeat positive affirmations, mantras, or do breath work every day will amount to huge time savings where other more productive work can be done.

In trials that I’ve done over the years participants have reported very positive subtle yet noticeable changes in how they view themselves.

I’ve been working to finish up on my first book and self-belief is a big part of what it’s about. Here’s some quick points that blend together to form the body of my discovery:

We’re all are born with a dual brain system.
-One brain in the head that thinks things (often times too many things) but can’t actually feel anything. (No pain receptors in the cortex at all.)
– A second brain located in the gut (Enteric Nervous System – ENS) that is not designed to think anything but feels everything from our greatest joys to our deepest sorrows.
– We need two separate brains because humans do two main things every day all day: we think things and we feel things. A separate brain for each think/feel action is the most elegant systems I can ever imagine.
All of self-help and psychology, although well intended, is constantly struggling to be more effective, but everything they do is predicated and focused on the mis-belief that we only have one brain located in the head. Hard to get a tiger to change it’s own stripes.
If we’ve learned anything it’s that true lasting belief is established through hard evidence not conjecture or argument.
You have clearly identified that the “resistance” is what causes us difficulty in reaching a goals. We also know that using our persistence, and never quitting, is the path to a successful conclusion that benefits ourselves or others.
-Accomplishments can build a better sense of one’s self. But, it would be an enormous help to know exactly what the true root of human perseverance is. I’ve identified it as a drive that is permanently located in our gut and that this can be revealed by using my method.
My methodology which leads participants to identify this internal drive, is to reverse-engineer a certain range of their past hard-fought successes where persistence was applied. Once identified this source can be used to raise the level of mindset immunity against the pressures that the “resistance” brings to bear. This exercise is not thought-based. It’s evidence-based.

While I’m not expecting anything of this from you, it would be great if I could discuss this with you. So many today are in desperate need to know this.

With great respect and love.

David Parsons

Interview Me

by David

David Parsons with his new book - The Gut Brain Balm

The Gut Brain Balm Book – Interview Talking Points To Ponder

These are a few of the points from my book that could be discussed during any interviews.

Humans have a dual brain system. One large brain in the head and a smaller one in the gut called the enteric nervous system. This was brought to light in 1996 by Dr. Michael Gershon author of the book “The Second Brain”.
Head brain thinks things (often too many things) but cannot feel anything. There are no pain receptors in the cortex at all.
The gut brain is not designed to think anything but to feel everything, from our greatest joys to our deepest sorrows.
In my opinion, having a dual brain system, with one that thinks things and a separate one that feels things is not only logical and necessary but wonderfully elegant.
The discourse in modern literature going back over the last 100 years concerning the key to success in anything is that being persistent is declared paramount. The problem is that no one knows what persistence actually is. This book will detail the answers we need to better understand this mystery
Over forty years ago, I stumbled on a simple method that allows anyone to reverse engineer their own success history. It became known as the HERO Tour. It’s an experience that leads one to reveal the location in the body of the energy pile that backed all hard-fought successful outcomes. For many, this results in one’s self-belief being permanently established. This method is so powerful that it needs to be done only once. A fact that upends the multi-billion dollar industry of self-help built almost entirely on repeat buyers.

For more information, download the document 15 Q&A About The HERO Tour

Teach Your Brain

by David

I’ve read that a new study has concluded that people generally lose concentration in about eight seconds. For the average goldfish swimming around in its glass bowl, it’s around nine seconds.

I should have known.

Back in 2016, I went and did a Ted Talk that was titled “The Brain That Saves You.” But now that I’ve had time to think about it, I could have done it better by saying less.

In that talk, I rambled on, trying to tie a bow around my theoretical argument that your second brain (yes, you have one) may be weird, but it continually saves you in three different ways. I wanted to do too many things with that talk, and as a result, I missed the mark.

The reason is simply the fact that I was suffering from the curse of knowledge. Over the years, I’ve gotten so close to the work of trying to figure out the mysteries associated with this brain that I couldn’t articulate my message clearly to those who’d never heard of such a thing.

Hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle, or so they say.

I mean, really, what was I doing by attempting to describe in seventeen minutes or less what one brain does, never mind two of them?

After all, the brain is said to be the most complicated thing in the entire solar system and maybe even in the universe itself. Not only that, I’m not a scientist, nor am I a doctor. In fact, I’ve never even set foot in any educational hall of learning greater than the art college I attended back in the seventies.

I’ve never worked as a copywriter either.

Despite such limitations, I still try to move the needle forward with a message that I feel is vital for you to hear. It’s a message about a dual-brain system that can fortify your bright future while relieving your past hurts. So, to keep it simple, I came up with the essence of what you need to hear in one sentence: “Teach your brain what your gut already knows.”

Of course, this entire thing leads to a way that enables you to do this special teaching.

It’s simple: – uses fewer words than the briefly famous Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
It’s effective; I’ve been testing it out for over two decades now in places near and far away via the internet
It saves time. Just do it once, and it never has to be repeated. No, not ever.

Okay, so I’ve not told you too much in this post. I don’t want to get off track and force you drink from a fire hose, (If you really feel you need to, you can see how that fateful Ted Talk went for me here.)

But what I really need from you is a little help. If you wouldn’t mind, please answer in the comments this simple two-part question: Is this something that piques your interest? If so, what more would you like to learn about it?

Let me know now in the comments below.

More power to you.

Don’t Ever Quit Advice That’s Never Wrong

by David

A mom crouches down to speak advice to her child Okay, a mother’s “don’t ever quit” advice is good advice that’s never wrong. So what else is new?

Well, according to all the personal development/self-help trainers out there, not very much. They’ve all been telling you the same thing for about the last 100 years or so. But in today’s world you need more than that.

A lot more.

See, what all the great personal development leaders seem to enjoy talking about is how your continued persistence will lead eventually to success. Good stuff for sure but what I’ve noticed is that when promoting advice like this it can trigger one great unanswered fundamental question:

What exactly is persistence anyway?

This is a thorny question but it begged to be answered.

For one thing, in today’s parlance it’s not always referred to as persistence. It’s sometimes better known as “grit”. But let’s first look at what the dictionary says about the word “persistence”.

Dictionary definition of "persistence" only describes its usage in language but that is not enough. It does give a definition as far as how to use the word “persistence” in language but says nothing else. It remains a mystery as to it’s source or it’s true nature. When I look up the definition of “grit” it’s pretty much the same thing:

grit: noun

the courage and determination that makes it possible for someone to continue doing something difficult or unpleasant

I mean, it’s okay if you’re happy to just know how best to use this term in your writing or speaking, but as far as understanding it on a deeper level, it won’t cut it.

And when I say “deeper” I mean it.

For me it took a little time – about two decades – to get it as close to being right as I could bring it. Because along the way other seriously big questions were raised as well.

Questions like:

What is the actual nature of persistence and determination?
Can these attributes be taught at home or in a classroom?
How can we make it so that either of these show up more often ?

The answers to these questions are not what you’d expect. Persistence as it turns out, is not a simple two-dimensional object like the words on this page are. It’s not a theory or a rule either. It’s neither a science like math, physics or cosmology.

That’s why it’s a bummer to teach in school. It’s a three-dimensional drive of pure energy but that’s only the short answer. You need and deserve a lot more – and that’s exactly what you’ll find in my new book

The Gut Brain Balm – How the strangest brain ever made saves us from death by stress.

It’s coming soon. Stay tuned.

More Power to you.

Building self confidence is easy but making it stick…not so much

by David

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There’s something I know about you that may shock you.

It’s something that is so crazy and off-the-wall strange that you might refuse to believe it.

And I wouldn’t blame you at all.

I hope you’re sitting down because here it is:

You have an extra brain.

Remember, I told you it was crazy? When I first heard of it I thought it was too. Until, that is, I found scientific evidence from a doctor that backed it up.

But what on earth has this to do with building my self-confidence?

Good question. Glad you asked.

Let’s start with discussing what exactly we’re talking about when we talk about self-confidence.

According to Wikipedia “Self Confidence” is described as:

Confidence comes from a Latin word ‘fidere’ which means “to trust”; therefore, having self-confidence is having trust in one’s self.

Trust is a huge factor in building self-confidence and I’ll have more to say about it in a minute. But first let’s be clear on what we’re talking about.

In my view there are two kinds of self confidence:

Work Mastery – This is confidence that comes from having a high degree of proficiency at a task. This could be anything from playing a musical instrument to being an expert at landscaping. Most people who have been at a job, profession, or doing any particular thing for a long time have this type of confidence.
Social Serenity – This is when you feel comfortable when communicating, working, or just being around other people. You have a comfort level that draws people toward you because you seem sure of yourself and what you stand for. This is generally the most sought after type of confidence.

Obviously the first type of confidence, Work Mastery, is the most common so for our purposes here we’ll be referencing the second type, Social Serenity, whenever the word “confidence” is mentioned.

If you go online you’ll find a number of remedies for low self esteem or lack of confidence. You’ll see free tips to get you started on building your self confidence. Almost all of them will tell you that it will take persistence to get the job done. In other words, their message is: It will be a long long road.

So, you might see results after you’ve completed the course, read the books, attended the seminar, and contemplated your existence while sitting quietly in a lotus position on a mat by yourself for twenty minutes a day over six weeks or so.

But here’s the good news:

feeling good about yourself
having a sustained self esteem
finding the strength that you can trust yourself
feeling confident in your abilities

All the above becomes quickly possible, or not, depending if you are

Aware that you have a second brain in your gut that can be optimized to work with the one brain you’re familiar with, AND
That both of these different brains can be optimized to work together to give you more pronounced insights.

Remember you have not just one but two very different brains in your body.

As a human being you do two things everyday all day: you think things and you feel things.

And now we know you have a separate brain for each of those two tasks. The one in your head is a thinking brain but it can’t feel anything. There are no pain receptors in the cortex at all.

The other one is in your gut. It’s much smaller but it’s not designed for thinking much. It’s a feeling brain. It feels everything from your greatest joys to your deepest sorrows… and everything in between.

It’s extremely sensitive to pressure. Which is how it does it’s job of managing the complicated work of the digestion process so incredibly well. Of course, that’s not all it does.

If you want to speed up the process to building self-trust and be blessed with an immutable confidence on an ongoing basis your second brain (AKA: your gut brain) is the place to go.

Now, in case your wondering, we’re not going to abandon the head brain. Certainly not. We need both brains working in concert to be able to think and feel at the same time. That way we can experience the good vibes of the gut brain and use that to suppress the noise that the head brain is in the habit of creating. That way we can check the decisions we’re thinking about while, at the same time, see how we feel about them before we put them into action. I call this…

Collaborative Intelligence

But why do we need this?

One big reason is to distance yourself from all the negative self talk that’s holding you back. Remember, it’s critical that you need to see that you can trust yourself. That you’re worthy of success. To arrive there means that you must first build a rock-solid self belief. If you can do this your self confidence will soar.

The big question, of course, is how?

The key is to know the truth. The truth that you have been successful your entire life. That kind of truth is powerful stuff. But it’s only found by examining the one thing that backed your success in any achievement you’ve ever had. It’s called your GRIT (better known as the gut drive of persistence).

I have two acronyms that I want you to remember from now on.

GRIT — Gut Recall Increases Traction
GRIT — Gut R ecognizes Internal Truth

Why are these important? Because of a critical finding made by researchers over forty years ago and reported in a book which sold over three million copies back in 1978. It was titled “In Search of Excellence”. It appears that the old adage ‘Nothing succeeds like success’ turns out to have a sound scientific base…

Researchers studying motivation find that the prime factor is simply the self perception among motivated subjects that they are in fact doing well.

…mere association with past personal success apparently leads to more persistence, higher motivation, or something that makes us do better.

Ya, “something that makes us do better”. I love that. They didn’t have a clue as to what that “something” was but today, after all this time, the answer to that question is coming into focus. And you my friend are going to reap the greatest rewards because of it. That is because you now know about that extra brain in your gut. Knowing this can make a big difference in how you can develop a self confidence that never leaves you.

More power to you.

David

PS: Want to know more about how you can use your dual-brain system to acquire a through-the-roof confidence and a rock solid self-belief that never leaves you?

Then go here and learn more about the HERO Tour now.

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