A recent issue of the ezine, The Certain Way published by my friend Rebecca Fine, featured the following from Scottish psychologist R. D. Laing:

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change — until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.”

If you’re wondering if you’re supposed to try saying that three times fast…no, don’t bother. but you might want to do what I did, and that is, read it three times slowly and really take in its meaning.

I’ve often spoken and written (and read) about belief systems and how they affect our thinking – and often, non-thinking – process. It is harmful to our progress in many areas to be stuck believing a certain way for no reason other than that is what we’ve been been taught and unquestioningly accepted (perhaps through a combination of upbringing, environment, schooling, news media, television and movies).

As such, we might fail to “notice” alternative ways of thinking, figuring and problem-solving.

However, what’s more harmful – perhaps devestatingly harmful – is to not even realize that the reason we are holding onto certain beliefs and failing to notice other aspects is because of those beliefs we have unquestioningly accepted and embraced.

These beliefs are are so unconcisouly ingrained that we don’t even know that they’re there, and we certainly don’t know that we don’t know that they are there (okay, that you can try saying three times fast).

We need to be aware; we need to notice. And we need to notice that we don’t notice. To paraphrase Dr. Laing (and perhaps Yogi Berra), it’s only when we notice that we aren’t noticing that we are able to notice.

Our belief systems don’t necessarily need to change. Many of them are valuable and serve us well. We just need to be aware/conscious that much of what we think, say and do are a result of those beliefs. Let’s simply take notice so that we can act out of strength and choice as opposed to unconciously accepted programming.

In their book, The One Minute Millionaire, Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen relate that Marshall Thurber, a partner in a very successful real estate company in San Francisco, CA told of a powerful experiment in his office. In fact, according to Thurber, “It immediately transformed my entire organization.”

They took a saying, based on the wise teaching of an American Indian medicine man, “If it doesn’t serve, don’t say it”, and agreed that anyone who was observed not following the policy of “speaking with good purpose” would donate two dollars to a bowl in the office. At the end of the month the money in the bowl was given to charity. According to Thurber, nothing he has done before or since had such a powerful impact on a group of people.

Wow…what a great idea!

This would also be a wonderful thing to do with your family, as well. Perhaps a “sliding-scale fine” could be arranged depending upon the age of the family member. Wouldn’t that be a constructive, yet fun and entertaining way of teaching your children (and perhaps, the adults, as well) how easy it is to fall into the “gossip trap?” Not to mention how much more effective everyone will be both as individuals and family members when it is avoided.

You can do this by yourself if you feel you need the practice, and those within your workplace or family don’t want to go along with the above idea.

For example, if you feel you are falling into the “gossip trap” you can make an agreement with yourself. Whenever you slip up, you’ll donate a certain amount of money (the higher the price, the more painful, and the quicker you’ll get back on track). At the end of the week, give the money to a homeless person, a shelter, your religious organization, your local Human Society, or to any worthy cause you choose. And make the donation anonymous. Keep a little charity box in your office or home so you won’t have to look around for a place to pay your fine.

How about trying any of the above suggestions for just one week? Okay, then another…and another . Please let us know your success stories.

(If you’re just joining this series, feel free to read the previous installments.) Or click here to read Part 1 of the Health Care series.

Check Your Health Care Premises (Part 5)

I had planned to end the series on Health Care after Part 4 but felt compelled to add the following because it’s so important an issue that I believe if there’s one more point; one more example  that will help educate us all to realize that the path to Socialized Medicine is contrary to both our individual and national health, then it needs to be made.  And, the following might or might not be it.

Health care is simply a microcosm of everything else and operates under the same basic principles, both economic and life.

As a general rule, with government programs, the following statement holds true: “The product is worse, the expense is higher, inefficiency is the rule, and everything is typically ‘up for sale’ to the highest special interest bidder via their lobbyists.” This has proven true with medicine so far as it has become more and more socialized in the U.S., and will most likely only accelerate should we actually get Universal Healthcare in our country.

The above rule also conforms with the immutable law of economics that says, “Nobody spends someone else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.

One of the most poignant stories I’ve ever read, heard, or (in this case) seen about  the inherent danger of Single-Pay insurance programs was on the online service YouTube.com from a filmaker/political commentator by the name of Stuart Browning. He has – in my opinion – simply “hit the nail on the head” regarding this topic. It’s  5:37 in length and worth every second to watch.

In this video, entitled, “A Short Course in Brain Surgery” he tells the not uncommon-enough story of a Canadian citizen who, despite being totally covered by Canadian’s provincial government for all medical procedures, couldn’t get an appointment to see what’s wrong with him…in this case, even though it was suspected that he had a brain tumor! It would be four months before he could get an MRI!!!!!

Well, brain tumors don’t necessarily wait that long to be diagnosed before they kill, so Mr. McCreith, a retiree on a limited budget, and his wife, Sandra, decided they would rather pay out of their own pocket and get it taken care of. The government said no. (The government said no. Think about that; a body of politicians and bureaucrats actually have the “right” to hold the fate of one of their citizens in their hands – which is bad enough – but they also told him, “no”).

The McCreiths eventually went south of the border to the U.S. where, fortunately, we have not yet (yet) sunk to Socialized Health Care (yet, please make no mistake – we are very far from our once excellent free-market based system).  He was able to get the MRI. It was indeed a brain tumor. He had it operated on, again in the U.S.

He was also out $28,000. (Remember, he also pays lots of taxes to the Canadian Government so he certainly expected services for his payments.) But he had no choice because, unless he headed south, he wasn’t going to get checked out – and then operated – in time to save his life.

You see, in Canada (as in every country that has Socialized Medicine), while everyone supposedly has a right to “free” healthcare coverage, what they really have is a right to join a waiting list.

Please note – this is so important: Basic economics tells us that when something is free or of a price that’s so low it is well under market value, it will create a demand; A demand that typically cannot be covered. The only way to decrease demand would be to raise prices but – with Universal Health Care – where the government is the only legal provider – that can’t be done.

So, the average citizen simply has to leave his or her health (thus, their very fate) up to the system; a system run by bureaucrats without a vested interest in making sure the individual is happy. After all, in a “socialistic” system, by its very nature, the individual is not as important as the collective.

This system has caused a backlog in Canadian healthcare that has been nearly catastrophic, such as  was nearly the case with Mr. Lindsay McCreith, This should not happen in a country as great and civilized as Canada, nor should it happen anywhere else. Let’s not allow this to happen in the U.S.

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*Before any of my many Canadian friends email me that I’m picking on Canada, please know that, personally, I love Canada, enjoy visiting on business and constantly brag to my American friends how wonderfully hospitable you all are (and how delicious Tim Horton’s coffee is). :-) I’m also not trying to tell you how to run your country. I would never do that. I’m only pointing out something I feel very strongly about in that I don’t want my beloved country, The U.S.A., going the Single-Payer route as you have north of the border.

And, if you do write, please don’t point out how inefficient our “free-market” healthcare system is. Before you do that, please read the previous four parts of this series and see that I clearly make the case that we have not had a free-market health-care system here in the U.S. for over 50 years.

Socialism is never the answer. Liberty is the answer.

Most salespeople have been correctly taught never to speak ill of their competition. Doing so will only make the salesperson himself or herself look bad. Unfortunately (in my opinion), most salespeople have been taught not to say anything good about their competition, either. I disagree with this counsel and have found just the opposite to be true in my selling career.

Whenever I’m speaking with a prospect and they bring up my competitor, I go out of my way to say something nice about him or her. Why? Because I’m a nice guy? No, not at all (although I do hope I’m also a nice guy) J. The reason is that by complimenting my competitor, I’m actually building myself in the mind of my prospect. If your prospect brings up the name of your competitor and you speak highly of them, what does that tell your prospect about you?

#1 You are Confident: You must have a lot of confidence to, not only not speak ill, but actually speak highly of this person.

#2 You are Successful: If you are confident, you also must be successful. After all, unsuccessful people don’t have that type of confidence in themselves.

#3 You are Safe: “Wow”, thinks your prospect (correctly, I might add), “If he/she speaks that well of their competition, I never have to worry about negative things being said about me or any of my staff.”

Obviously, if you know for sure that your competitor is a thief, you can’t lie and speak well of them. But, that aside, if you can possibly say something nice about him or her, do so. It will only reflect well on you.

Last night’s bout of “writer’s block” turned into a fortunate gift for all as, during a “stop focusing on having writer’s block” break, I came across the most recent blog post of my excellent and gifted Go-Giver coauthor, John David Mann.

While having dinner with his Mother-in-Law, Sylvia, he was treated to a story about her days as a student nurse that moved him so much he – as he told me last night – “literally got up from the table, went right to my computer, and blogged it.”

While indeed it is a story about compassionate nursing, I believe the lessons go deeper.

What are your thoughts and interpretations?* I’d love to hear them

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* First one might be, “Burg, you should get writer’s block more often.”